Silver and Gold the Doves and the Ravens
by AlabrithGaiamoon
Summary: The Tantei recieves a strange case involving an illusionistKoenma adds a newreluctantmember to the team,and Kurama has a blast from the past.Sequal to SilverandGoldfoxwithoutvixen. Don't like it, DONT READIT.
1. Default Chapter

Yahoo! I'm back! Welcome, new readers and old! This is the sequal to Silver and Gold the Fox Without a Vixen!I thought it would be cute to start this off on Valentine's Day. Well, have at it.

One

Nostalgia

The new school year, the last school year for most students, had begun. Murasaki University was an important college. The work was hard, the teachers were strict, and no one fooled around. At least not when the teachers were looking. Three young men attended this school, Yusuke Urameshi, Kazuma Kuwabara, and Suichi Minamino, and didn't take studying lightly; Suichi would not let them. It was the first day of school; the three friends were waiting outside the building for class to start. The tall building of glass and steel shimmered optimistically in the morning sun, bringing some beauty to the jagged man-made world. Leaning against the doorframe idly, Yusuke sighed disinterestedly. Suichi said nothing at all, and revealed nothing on his face. Kuwabara took this time to comment on the peculiar attire of the school. The uniforms were different from the high schools and junior highs.

Either the males and females were permitted to wear tan khaki pants, or the girls could wear skirts. The tops consisted of a white button up shirt with long sleeves for the cold seasons, and short sleeves for the warm seasons. Over the white shirts were deep green sweater vests and a brown tie, a few shades darker than the pants. Yusuke and Kuwabara had not donned the vests or ties, as it was too constricting to their wild demeanor. Suichi wore the complete school uniform, showing no signs of discomfort.

"Only geeks wear the whole uniform, man." Yusuke drawled lazily.

"I had intended to make a good impression on the teachers, Yusuke." Suichi replied, tossing his crimson hair over his shoulder; the stray lock rejoined the cascading red mane all the way down his back. Suichi's green eyes gave a good-humored glare to Yusuke's hazel ones. The delinquent wore his ebony hair combed back from his face with gel. Kuwabara laughed at the red head's comment, "Do you _want_ them to give you extra work or something?" his strange orange hairstyle shading his black eyes.

The red head shrugged his shoulders, "I can't say I would mind. Its not so hard once you get use to actually working; but you two wouldn't know anything about work, would you?"

"Hey fox boy, don't even start with me, it's the first day of school, the easiest day of the year, so don't go and try to make it hard." Yusuke glared at Suichi. The crimson haired boy was actually not human at all, and due to this, he was very smart. Suichi was actually a mythical fox creature called a youko. He was Kurama, the greatest of thieves in all the three worlds; but one day he was killed, his soul escaped death and possessed a human embryo. Thus, he was born again into the life of a human.

He was not the most compliant of children though, he was all but a monster in children's clothing, and then it happened. His human mother, Shiori Minamino, risked her own well being for her son's and Kurama was forever changed. He ceased his bitterness and hate; Shiori filled the gap in his heart with love, and he could do nothing to displease her.

But the cause of his foul behavior in the first place had scarred him in a way that would never really heal. As a youko, he had cared for another. He had abruptly lost her. In search of her, he had become reckless and gotten his only other friend killed; and then he joined them. Their memory lived strong in him nineteen years later.

_I'm so tired of being here  
suppressed by all of my childish fears  
and if you have to leave  
I wish that you would just leave  
because your presence still lingers here  
and it won't leave me alone_

_these wounds won't seem to heal  
this pain is just too real  
there's just too much that time cannot erase_

_The people he cared about were dead, but he remembered them, he would always remember them. He had vowed to always protect the people his loved ones, and so he carded for Shiori with all he had, so he would never lose anyone else._

_When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears  
when you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears  
and I've held your hand through all of these years  
but you still have all of me_

_Today, he would ritually honor his friends, by tending his gardens and thinking of them; by being filled with the memory of their love, he would create beautiful things with that power._

_You used to captivate me  
by your resonating light  
but now I'm bound by the life you left behind  
your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams  
your voice it chased away all the sanity in me_

_these wounds won't seem to heal  
this pain is just too real  
there's just too much that time cannot erase_

_when you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears  
when you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears  
and I've held your hand through all of these years  
but you still have all of me_

This task was performed annually, so he would never forget. If he forgot, he might not appreciate the people he had.

_I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone  
and though you're still with me  
I've been alone all along_

"Kurama!" Yusuke waved his hand in front of the red head's face. He blinked and looked at his friend, "Huh?"

"The bell rang, Kurama, lets go."

"Please Yusuke, you must address me as Suichi here."

"Oh right, sorry. Well, c'mon, Kuwabara, Kur- Suichi." The young men filed into the crowded hallways and went in search of their classes. The day went relatively well by Kurama's standards; he received a little homework from his math teacher, but nothing else. As the final bell rang, the three friends parted ways to go to their homes. Yusuke and Kuwabara headed straight to the arcade to play a few games before going home. The racing game was calling their names, to which they happily answered.

Kuwabara took a seat in front of the steering wheel handle; Yusuke did the same and inserted a quarter into the machine. The race began; Kuwabara took the lead. Yusuke considered shoving him out of his seat so he could pass him when the screen went blank. A face popped up on the screen, waving his small hands at them, "Hello, Yusuke!" Koenma, prince of the underworld smiled at them behind his pacifier.

"No! Nonononono!" the black haired youth shrieked. "I don't want another case! Go away!" he started to bang on the steering wheel.

"Urameshi, you're making a scene!" Kuwabara sweated nervously. Yusuke struggled with the fake seat belt to the game's seat. "Why, of all times did I remember to buckle up!"

"Don't worry, Kuwabara, normal people can't see me; and as for you Yusuke, don't have a cow. This case is not as hard as you may think." Koenma explained. Yusuke sighed in defeat before sitting calmly, "Okay, Koenma, lay it on us."

The same journey to his house had not changed since he lived there. Kurama didn't have to concentrate on where he was going so he had time to think. This was the day his mother was giving him the house and moving in with his stepfather. Owning property in Japan was a pain, so Shiori wanted to make it easier for her son; he was growing up and needed his own place; what better place than home?

He would no longer be a dependant; he would not be a burden to any one. So would it be safe to finally tell her? Kurama pondered this question nearly his whole human life. Shiori was bound to find out one-way or another; she could tell he wasn't a normal boy. A blur of black above his head distracted his thoughts. "Having trouble, kitsune?" a black clad fire apparition walked along the tree branches above the thoughtful fox.

"Hello, Hiei. Yes, I'm having trouble on deciding whether or not to tell Shiori about…you know. You too have an identity being hidden from a loved one, perhaps you could help."

"You already know what I would say. Letting someone important know that you were a thieving, murdering yokai but still are of their same flesh and blood is not the best way to tell someone you care about them."

"But, both Shiori and Yukina are loving, forgiving people."

"Go ahead, Kurama, take your chances."

"I'm not sure about it, how about we make a pact; if one of us ever has the courage to tell, the other must do the same."

"You really haven't got any brains at all, have you?"

"I'm serious; and if I tell Yukina about you, you have the right to tell Shiori about me; that way you know I won't blackmail you with that knowledge any more."

"Hm… sounds fair enough, but know if you tell Yukina, I will tell Shiori, then I will slaughter you. Got it?"

"Pinky-swear?" Kurama smiled innocently.

"Pinky what?"

"Pinky-swear, it's a code of promise used among children. I don't think I'd want to write this agreement in blood or something of the like, so how about a pinky-swear?" Kurama extended his arm to Hiei and held up his little finger.

"…What do I do?"

"Just wrap your little finger around mine."

"And if this agreement is voided?"

"You have already set the penalty."

"Hn," the fire yokai reached down to Kurama and wrapped his little finger around Kurama's. "This is ridiculous."

"Perhaps, yes, but not bloody…you can let go now." Hiei snorted and released the fox's finger, flitting away. A familiar white house was suddenly beside him. "Home already?" he sighed. His mother's car was parked in the driveway. "Welcome home, Suichi." His mother was sitting on the porch.

"Hello mother," he smiled and gave her a hug.

"Today's the day, the movers are just gathering the last of my things."

"Movers? But only your car is in the driveway." A groan came from within the house, "Oi! Suichi, is that you? Would you mind giving us a hand?" the familiar voice of his stepfather was heard. Kurama's stepbrother, also named Suichi appeared at the door with a box in his hands. "Hey, Su-kun." Elder Suichi greeted him.

"Hey, Su-san. Will you help us? Its practically your house, now."

"Sure, no problem." What few things there were left to move was loaded into Shiori's car. Shiori had only taken her personal belongings, and left the furnishings for her son. "You can do what ever you want with the furniture if you feel like redecorating; or you can move into my room and use yours as a guest room. Its all yours now." Shiori handed him the house key. Kurama took the keys and held her hand for a moment longer. Shiori quickly began to tear. "My baby is all grown up!" she sobbed, hugging her son. "You're a man now, Suichi, I won't be able to baby you anymore!"

"Please don't cry, mother. Its not like I'll be far away, and you can still be mother me anytime. You have little Suichi to baby too."

Little Suichi took the cue, stepping up beside her. Shiori put one arm around each Suichi, and her husband completed the circle. "We'll miss you," she whispered. And she left. Kurama walked into the house; his house. It was very quiet. And he was alone.


	2. Shaman

Chapter 2

Shaman

It was the weekend, finally. The first week of school only boded what was to come in the following months. Yusuke and Kuwabara stood on the roof of a city shrine; a small building with a sloped roof and open walls. Paper chains hung from the rafters, and stone statues of beasts guarded the sacred property. The case was supposed to be simple, easy enough for only two of the Tantei to handle. An unknown person had been exorcising spirits and ghosts illegally; that is to say, without a license. This did no damage to anything or anyone, but it went against protocol of the spirit world. Yusuke had only to arrest the person in question and bring them back to the spirit world. Easy, right?

"Urameshi, we've been on this roof top for hours, when's that guy gonna come or attack or whatever?"

"For the fifth time, Kuwabara, I don't know! We don't even know if he's gonna come _here_!"

"Sorry, I'm just anxious. It's a Friday night for crying out loud! All the parties and dating goes on a Friday."

"Like anyone would date you."

"Shut up! Why you always gotta rag on me! Pick another scapegoat!"

"Because the only other candidates for a scapegoat can kill me- hey, look there!" Yusuke pointed to a line of crepe myrtle trees. The shimmering form of a ghost was wandering around the property. "Well, lets go then!" Kuwabara took a step toward the edge of the roof. "Wait, if we hold back for a while, the exorcist might show up." Yusuke said. Kuwabara nodded in agreement. They watched the ghost from the roof of the shrine, crouching low to remain unseen. The apparition swirled around in drunken circles, moaning pitifully. It resembled a young man; his hair and eyes were a rich brown, but the ends of his hair were fading into gray. He did not look old at all; in fact he was quite attractive for a ghost, he was weakening. The spirit tripped over his ghost-tail for feet and fell to the ground.

The ghost looked toward the moon in the sky and stretched his arm toward it, as if it could give him strength. Another figure stepped out of the shadows and walked toward the spirit. It was a female from what the boys could see of her, mainly her skirt and the fluffy shirt she wore. She carried with her a wooden Shepard's crook. The spirit struggled to his feet/tail and backed away from the girl. "Don't try to escape; if not by my hand you will be destroyed, then another's." She raised her staff and struck him. The ghost cried out and fell back. She threw a silver chain with stones linked to it around his neck. The ghost shrieked and struggled to remove the chain, as if it brought great pain. The girl struck him again with her staff and he slowly began to melt. His substance gave away into nothing. Removing the chain from the ground, the girl rewrapped it around her arm. "Now!" Yusuke leapt off the roof and tackled the girl.

The lithe girl exploded in fists and heels. Kuwabara fell on his back, several bones having been rearranged in his face. Yusuke ignored his bloody nose and fired his Spirit gun point-blank in her chest; she slammed into the side of the temple and didn't move. Yusuke held her arms behind her back while Kuwabara held her legs. Yusuke pulled his communication mirror from his pocket, "We have her, Botan." He spoke to the person on the other end of the line. A blue haired woman riding an oar swooped out of the sky; Botan, pilot of the river Styx. Her cotton candy eyes glimmered, "Well done Yusuke. I'll open the portal for you." She said, and drew a circle appear in midair with her fingertip. Gazing upon the unnatural passage, the girl struggled and squirmed. The circle turned into a hole, splitting the dimensions, and the two Tantei stepped through, holding the squirming girl. The portal vanished and the four were suddenly in an office.

The room was spacious, with a large flat screen TV mounted on one wall, and a desk piled high with papers on the opposite side of the room. A small child with a large bulbous hat and a binky was busy filing, sorting and stamping papers. Next to the child stood a man in a leopard toga, blue skin, and a small horn coming out of his forehead. "Ah, Yusuke, you have found the renegade exorcist. Very good." The three struggling teens suddenly stopped moving. Yusuke had handcuffed the girl's hands in front of her before they had moved through the portal, and so she was freed from his grasp, allowing her to turn. What features had been invisible in moonlight had been revealed in the florescent lights of the office.

The girl had short curly blonde hair that stood out majestically around her head like the rays of a golden sun. Her glaring green eyes were directed at Yusuke. That particular glare reminded him of someone he had known for a very long time… "Yusuke?" she said.

"Gabi?" he squinted and looked at her face closely.

"Yusuke! Where ya' been, man! I haven't heard from you in _years_!" Gabi slipped her bound wrists behind Yusuke's head, smushing his head into her chest, and hugged him. His voice was muffled in her billowing blouse; releasing his head he gave a queer grin, "Keh heh heh, pillowy." She smacked him. He rubbed his face and laughed out loud, "Well, the last time you talked to me must have been six years ago! What'cha been doin'? Skipping Japan every time you circled the globe?"

"You're more scatter brained than me, _I_ always wrote to you at regular intervals. I was lucky to get a postcard from you every six months!" she punched him lightly on the arm.

"Do you have any idea what postage costs from Japan to Madagascar, or Norway, or Mexico!" Yusuke waved his hands to illustrate his frustration.

"You could have e-mailed me!"

"Excuse me, do you two know each other?" the Reikai prince asked from behind his mountain of papers. The bickering teens ceased and turned toward him. "Hey, cool, a genius baby! How cute!" Gabi leapt forward and shook his small hands with her own, even though she was handcuffed. "Excuse me, but you must have me mistaken. I am Koenma." He corrected her. "Who?" She spied the huge remote used for the giant television on the opposite wall; she seized it and pressed the many buttons, "Sweet! Do you get cable with this thing?"

"Actually," Koenma corrected her, "I can use it to find nearly anything or any one at any given time or place."

"Sweet!"

Kuwabara, who had been forgotten to this point suddenly burst out, "Am I missin' something here! Okay, You know her, she knows you," he pointed to Gabi and Yusuke, "But didn't we arrest you as an _unknown _criminal?"

"I'm _not_ a criminal!" she yelled.

"Yeah, she's not a criminal!" Yusuke chimed in.

"Everybody calm down!" Koenma yelled, his binky staying in place for no apparent reason. "Well, since you seem to be familiar with her, Yusuke, why don't you tell me who she is?" the raven-haired youth sighed, as if the most obvious thing in the world had eluded their grasps of intelligence.

"This is Gabi; she's a friend of mine from when I was a little kid. She travels all over the world with her foster dad. Every now and then she stops by to say hi. She's a good person, she wouldn't commit a crime without a reason." The deity sat back in his chair for a moment before speaking again. "This may come as a shock to you, Yusuke, but I have to put her in jail for breaking at least a dozen laws concerning exorcism." He said.

"What? Why? Who the hell are you, anyway?" Gabi said.

"I am the ruler of the spirit world, young lady, so watch your mouth! As for the reason of your detainment, it's simple. You do not have the proper warrant to be dealing with banishing spirits and apparitions-"

"Actually, it was in incubus I had been following for some time, keeping him away from innocent women until he was weak enough to kill."

"-And have _repeated_ the offence of illegal exorcism. However, since Yusuke _could_ vouch for you, I _may_ have lessened your sentence, but your attitude is convincing me otherwise."

"C'mon, Koenma! She probably didn't even know about needing a license; _I_ didn't know people needed licensees to banish ghosts and stuff!" Koenma sat and digested this information for a moment. Gabi looked sadly at the floor, away in her own little world of guilt.

"Hm, alright, I'll let her go with a little community service. But until this case is filed away and the paperwork for her release is in order, she has to stay here; understand?"

"Alright! You're off the hook, Gabi!" Yusuke gave her a double high five. The wheels in the princeling's head began to turn; he had a shaman at his mercy, who had the potential to become a professional spirit handler. The members of his tantei consisted of a dragon-wielding, fire-commanding swordsman, a plant manipulating, strategizing thief, a spirit sword kakai barrier slicing ox-of-a-man, and the successor of the master reiki manipulating psychic Genkai. If he had a shaman, a ghost hunter, a demon slayer, the tantei would be complete and balanced…

"Gabi, I have a proposition for you." Koenma interrupted the small celebration. The blonde turned to the prince and waited for him to continue, hope shining in her eyes. "When you are released, how would you like to receive training for your powers and become part of the spirit detective team?"

"Hmm… on one condition; see that thingy you use to find stuff?" she said.

"Yes,"

"Don't EVER use that to find me, or any where-one-or thing around me, got it? I need my space or I go loco on your head like anorexic camels."

"…Very well, then. George, take her to a suitable chamber were she may be detained until the proper paper work is in order." Koenma ordered the blue ogre next to him. Yusuke and Kuwabara had followed to keep her company. "So, what happened six years ago?" Gabi clinked her cuffs musically in beat with her footsteps.

"Well, I was having a bad day, then I got ran over and died. I took the test Koenma offered to come back to life, and then he made me Spirit Detective, like a policeman for the spirit world. I stomp bad guys with spiritual powers, or reiki, that try to take over the world, or blow it up, or something. I made some friends here and there, like Kuwabara, here. He used to be my rival, and he still kind of is, but we get along okay. Aside from him and myself, there are two more members to the Tantei."

"There's Hiei, and Kurama. They were both criminals who stole some stuff from Koenma and he sent me to stop'em. I beat Hiei, but Kurama just gave himself up because I let him use the treasure he stole to save his mother's life. They were both pardoned when they helped me on my next case against these four monsters who wanted access to the human world."

"That's some story."

"That's not even all of our cases."

"Yeah, you should have seen us during the Dark Tournament. I kicked some butt!" Kuwabara said, making a goofy smile and flexing his arms.

"Come one, Kuwabara! You got your butt kicked even more than the people that lost to us!"

"Nuh-uh, Urameshi!"

"Yeah ya did! I've got a whole stadium full of yokai who can vouch for you!"

"Hey, ogre-dude!" Gabi interrupted. George, the ogre in question turned to her. "Yes?"

"How long is this gonna take?"

"Well, adding the time it takes to fill out your paper work to the time to complete the paper work he already has, I'd say you're going to stay here over night."

"_O__VER NIGHT!_ MY GUARDIAN DOESN'T EVEN KNOW I'M _GONE__!"_ she shrieked. "Oh, fudge in a basket, what am I gonna do? I can't tell Daren I snuck out to fight ghosts and then got arrested by another dimension because I don't have a license for Ghost busting!" Gabi clutched Yusuke's jacket and shook him back and forth while wailing. "What am I going to do, Yusuke!"

"Calm-down-Gab-i!" he said as his skull was thrown helter-skelter. "Daren knows you're my friend, just tell him you stayed the night at my place!"

"But that's lying." She dropped him unceremoniously and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Well, if I stay with you, then you can just say 'you stayed with me', and he'll think you stayed _with_ me _at_ my house. No more questions asked. That's not _technically_ lying."

"…That might work."

And so the remainders of the midnight hours were spent in a jail cell. A very nice jail cell; it looked like a hotel room with bars on one of the four walls. Kuwabara had gone home via Botan. Yusuke sat in a plush chair George had removed from the cell for him, while Gabi sat in another in the other side of the bars. "Anything happen during those six years with you? I mean, you know what I've been up to, so why are you a Ghostbuster? And why are you dressed like a cross between a pimp and a pilgrim?" Yusuke leaned on the rear legs of the chair with his feet hooked onto the bars of Gabi's cell. She was dressed in a deep purple bodice over a loose gray shirt with poofy sleeves bound at the elbows. Around her waist was a black skirt reaching to her mid calves with a smoke-like swirl of gray coming up from the hem to her waist. Under the skirt she wore gray leggings and navy button up shoes; the kind that ladies wore in centuries long past. Here and there, polished stones and small shells were fastened to her clothes; a swirly seashell hung at her throat; and in her hair were several exotic feathers.

"I've become a shaman, Yusuke. I think it's in my family, my blood family. The sixth sense is a genetic gift. I have been doing research and learning from the holy men and women on my travels, but I'm still not a master."

"So you're a Ghostbuster, only without an espresso machine on your back, or whatever they used in the movies."

"That movie rocked!" .

"So you can see ghosts and stuff?"

"You mean _you_ can't? Even being Spirit Detective?"

"Nah, I'm a fighter. Kuwabara's family has the sixth sense, though. So does Genkai, my mentor. She could probably help you. I'll take you to see her when you get outta here. Maybe then _T__HE OLD HAG WILL GET OFF MY BACK FOR ONCE_!" he hollered into the air as if she could hear him.

"Could she help me control my _other _powers?"

"What, you can do other stuff besides destroy spirits?"

"Yeah, lots of stuff; here I'll show you. Hold out your hand." Yusuke obeyed, watching her curiously, "now don't move." She reached through the bars to her cell and flexed her fingers for a moment. Concentrating on Yusuke's hand, she slowly lowered her hand onto his. At first, her fingers collided with his palm, but then he could not feel her touch at all; her fingers became slightly translucent and passed straight through his hand. "Cool! Ghost powers! You could get out of a lot of trouble like that!"

" I can't control it as well as you think, sometimes I turn intangible during the wrong moments, so I don't use it often."

"Yeah? Like how?"

"Once I walked right out of my clothes."

"Oh." He sympathized with this single syllable.

"Yeah,"

"Kuwabara has a real strong sixth sense, but he can't do anything like you can."

"He seems nice, a little loud mouthed, but nice." Yusuke scoffed. "He's an idiot, but hey, so am I and I get along on my own just fine."

"How you made it to this age without dying, I'll never know."

"Hey remember I _did_ die once?"

"Oh, Yeah."

Hello, all! Thank you for your patience! Please review!


	3. Old Friends

Chapter 3

Old Friends

As Yusuke had predicted, Gabi's foster father did not question where she had been last night. The three teens, Yusuke, Gabi, and Keiko were reminiscing about old times in the restaurant her family owned. "So, how many different countries have you been to this time?" Keiko asked, sipping a cup of tea.

Gabi turned her cup around and around on its saucer, thinking hard. "The last time I left Japan, I went to Hawaii, Canada, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Madagascar, south Africa, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, India, China, the Polynesian islands, and dozens of other smaller countries before we came back here."

"You have an amazing memory!" Keiko said with a shocked expression.

"The weird thing is, we normally come to Japan at least once a year, but its like we've avoided it all together for the past six years. Its one of the countries we always visit on our trek through the year, along with a new place we've never been, but we just stopped coming."

"I wonder why?"

Yusuke was busy eating ramen and couldn't talk. A pair of small, bird-like feet graced his skull. "Puu!" chirped a small creature with blue fur and long floppy ears. A patch of black hair topped its head, contrasting its big eyes and beak. "What the hell is that!" Gabi pointed, then snatched the creature up and began inspecting it. "Never seen a bird like this before…" Yusuke dislodged a wad of ramen from his throat. "Hey, you're supposed to stay hidden where people can't see you!" he yelled, causing several people in the restaurant to stare.

"Yusuke, be quite, you're making a scene!" Keiko chided.

"Yusuke, what is this?" Gabi found the creature's ticklish spot, causing it to chirp happily in a way that mimicked laughter. "It's name is Puu, he's my spirit beast," the boy sighed. "Spirit beast…" she repeated, remembering tales of such things told to her by a Chinese priestess. Puu fluttered back to his spot on Yusuke's head and pecked his forehead gently, trying to get his attention. "What do you want, you freak penguin?" Puu pointed with his ear/wing towards the door and began to fly away. "Lets follow the birdie!" Gabi bounced happily after the blue beast. Sighing, Yusuke paid for his ramen and left the restaurant, promising to meet up with Keiko later.

The spirit beast made a beeline down the sidewalk, with the curly haired girl in check. Puu kept fluttering just out of Gabi's reach each time she made a grab for him. He flew around the corner of a brick wall that surrounded a grassy area. Also in this area was a wooden bench. Jumping on the bench, Gabi jumped onto the wall and snatched Puu out of the air. Unfortunately, someone else had made a grab for the beast at the same time and ended up pulling Gabi off the wall. She crashed into the person headfirst. The person cushioned her face with their stomach, but she ripped her pants and scraped her knees on the cement despite her attempt not to. Scrambling around to release pressure from the wounds, she sucked air through her teeth and held her knees. "Pain!"

"Excuse me! Are you alright?" the person said. Gabi pressed her hands onto the wounds to stop the bleeding, "I've had worse, but _man_ that smarts!" Puu landed in front of her, purring in a birdlike way. A hand extended in her direction, she took it and stood. The hand was connected to a white sleeve, and the sleeve was attached to the body of a peppermint-green haired teen. The green haired girl looked apologetically at Gabi with ruby eyes, "Please, allow me to help." She said. Kneeling, her pale, slender hands hovered over the bleeding scrapes. A faint golden aura surrounded her hands; spots of light peppered her skin, and instantly, the bleeding was stopped and the skin reformed; not even the blood on her skin was left. Gabi rubbed her knees, "Thank you, miss…"

"Please, just call me Yukina, no need for 'miss', I'm really not that old."

"Hey, Yukina," Yusuke waved from the end of the block; he had followed Gabi and just caught up. "Yukina, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Puu flew away from the temple, and I followed him." Said spirit beast allowed him self to be cradled in the arms of Yukina.

"Is any one else with you?"

"Why no, I'm here all alone. Do you know this girl here?"

"My name's Gabi, I should have introduced myself first." She blushed sheepishly. "I've been Yusuke's friend for several years."

"Hey, Gabi, would you mind if I talked with Yukina privately?" Yusuke put his hand behind his head in an awkward way. Gabi put her hands in her jean pockets, "No problem, Yusuke. I have something I need to take care of. I'll see you on Monday."

"Take care," he said, and she disappeared around the corner. Yukina continued to hold Puu, and started to walk alongside the Spirit Detective. "What is it you wish to talk about?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows slightly.

"I need to talk to Genkai about something; is she busy?"

"No, why?"

"I wanted to know if she could take another student. Gabi has the powers of a shaman, but she needs help controlling them. Koenma wants to make her a part of the Tantei."

"Ah, I see. Genkai has been rather idle lately, I'm sure she would be pleased to have something to do. Why did you want to discuss this privately?"

"Well… Gabi is not too trusting of strangers; I mean, she travels all over the world year round, she doesn't get to be attached to people."

"How is it that she became your friend then?" Yusuke stared up at the sky, remembering.

_A seven-year-old Yusuke raced around the park with a seven-year-old Keiko. He passed under the monkey bars that served as a finish line. "Ha! I win! I win! In your face Keiko!" he shouted victoriously._

_"Lets go on the merry-go-round!" the tiny version of Keiko said. They took turns pushing and riding on the old rusty merry-go-round, laughing and screaming. A little girl watched them from the top of the slide nearby. "Hey," Keiko shouted to the other girl, "Wanna come play? The merry-go-round goes faster with two people." The girl rode down the slide, blonde curls billowing, "Sure!" approaching the spinning piece of metal, she grabbed the handles around the sides. "My name's Gabi."_

_"I'm Yusuke, and this is Keiko." The boy jabbed his thumb in Keiko's direction. "I bet I can make the merry-go-round go faster than you can!"_

_"Oh, yeah? Well see about that!" Gabi grinned and began to run with her hand on the metal bar, Keiko in the center of the disk, and Yusuke on the other side with his hand on the bar. They ran faster and faster, trying to outrun the other. Keiko giggled, her brown hair flying around her head. Gabi suddenly stopped and yanked on the bar, jerking the wheel out of Yusuke's grasp. He stumbled forward and released the bar. Gabi jumped onto the merry-go-round and rode around the circle, grabbing Yusuke's arm and pulling him on. They all shrieked and laughed until the wheel finally slowed to a stop. A pair of boys approached the three; they were at least eleven or twelve._

_Keiko gasped, "Yusuke, its those bullies from the fourth grade!" the boys approached the merry-go-round. "Hey, Urameshi, hangin', around with your girlfriend?" the one with a blue hat said. _

_"Shut up, she's not my girlfriend!" he growled._

_"Then you won't mind if she's _my_ girlfriend. How about it, girl?" the other one with red shoes said, grabbing Keiko's arm. _

_"Leggo, you bully!" she yelled, trying to get away._

_"Let 'er go, you pig-head!" Gabi said, approaching Red Shoes. "Or what?" he mocked, "Gonna give me cooties?"_

_Thock! Gabi kicked him in the nose; he released Keiko's arm and started to cry. "Hey!" Blue Hat said, "You stupid girl!" she jumped onto the merry-go-round and ran towards him, yelling like an Indian brave. He squealed and turned to run, but was Clotheslined by the irate Yusuke. The boys ran away, crying and nursing their wounds like the children they were. _

_"You were awesome!" Yusuke said and high-fived the curly-haired blonde. Gabi blushed, "That Clothesline was cool too. You okay, Keiko?" the girl was still on the merry-go-round. "I'm fine; thanks for stopping that boy."_

_"We girls got to stick together against pig-headed boys like them!"_

_"Hey," Yusuke said, "You wanna play something else?" Gabi shook her short curls, "I have to leave now."_

_"Will we see you tomorrow?" Keiko asked hopefully. Gabi shook her head again; "I travel all over the world with my foster dad. We've already been here two weeks, and we're leaving tonight."_

_"Do we have to say good-bye forever?" Yusuke looked sad with his large childish eyes. Gabi dug in the pockets of her little jumpsuit and pulled out two carefully carved wooden figures. One was a dog; the other was a pony. "We'll be back here on winter solstice; take this pony Keiko, it's for strength, and this dog, Yusuke, means loyalty. I got them from a Native American shop."_

_"Cool, thanks, Gabi!" they said. A man with dark hair approached the park, "Time to go, now." He called. Gabi walked toward him; calling back to her new friends, "Don't forget me! I won't forget you!"_


	4. Enrolled

Ch4 Enrolled

Gabi straightened her jacket nervously, and walked out of the main office of the building. The people around her were dressed the same, except for her. She wore khaki shorts and knee-high white socks with black shoes, a white button up shirt and yellow tie, matching her yellow plaid button up vest. Over all of that she wore a deep cranberry blazer. People stared, but she didn't really give a crap; she was used to being in new places. What she was nervous about was staying in one place for a long time. Daren had decided to let her go to college with other students and finish school completely in one location.

A group of teens filed into the room; Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama took their seats in various parts of the room, having the same first period together. The tardy bell rang just as a girl walked into the room and handed a pass to the teacher. The elderly man, who looked quite a bit like Mr. Takenaka, Yusuke's old teacher, took the pass, read it, and faced her again. "Miss, if you are to attend school here, you must wear the uniforms." He said, gesturing to her attire.

"They didn't have any in my size, I'm too tall, so I wore the uniform from my last school." The old man sighed. "Very well, but we don't allow perms here." She narrowed her eyes at the man, flames surrounding her and a vein mark appearing on her forehead, "This is _natural_!"

"Eh, very well, take a seat please!" he said nervously, with his hands up, as if to fend her wrath away. The curly haired blonde turned to the watching class, searching for a seat. Yusuke, who had planned to be sleeping, but found him self entertained by the scene, rubbernecked and stared at the girl. "Gabi?" her eyes flitted over to him, "Hey, Yusuke!" she bounded over to him and sat in the desk next to him. The teacher proceeded with the day's lesson while the two teens whispered to each other.

"You're staying for the school year?"

"Yeah! Daren and I are staying here for a whole year!"

"Wow. What are the odds we ended up in the same class together?"

"About 25,500 to 1." She smiled smugly.

"You're good at math. Um…can I copy your math homework?" Yusuke made a cat face.

"Is the Eiffel tower in Italy, you illiterate boob?"

"Can I copy your geography homework too?"

"No. Hey, who's that red head staring at me?" Gabi discreetly pointed to a boy on the other side of the room. He was holding a book as if he was reading it but he was eyeing her suspiciously. Yusuke leaned back to see, and sat forward again, "That's Kurama. He's part of the Tantei."

"That twig?" she snorted, "I could snap him."

"Eh, I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you-"

"Urameshi, is there something you and your friend would like to share with the class?" the teacher said, interrupting them. Gabi stood up, "Yes there is!" she pointed to the board, "That is not Austria, that's Germany you're pointing to, and you spelled 'Crusades' wrong!" she said indignantly and sat down again. The teacher looked back at the board and blushed, "Er, very good Miss Gabi, that _is_ Germany." He continued his lecture, forgetting about the two teens immediately.

In time the school day ended and Yusuke reunited with his friends at his apartment; for once it was very clean and organized. He had planned a meeting with the Tantei and it's new member. "Yo, name's Gabi!" she said.

Kurama: "Hello, you must be the potential new addition Koenma told us about."

Kuwabara: "We're adding a _girl _to the team!"

Yusuke: "Uh, Kuwabara?"

Kuwabara: "Girls can't fight-"

Yusuke: "Kuwabara!" waves hands frantically

Gabi: in Mrs. Crabtree voice "WOT DID YEW SAY!"

Kuwabara: "That 'girls can't fight?'"

Yusuke: "You idiot! You answered her! Kurama, grab her legs!" dives for her.

The detective pounced on the teen girl, she snarled at the carrot top in front of her, making him take a step back. Kurama quickly caught on to the situation and seized the girls legs before she could permanently make sure Kuwabara had no children in the future. The fire koorime in the company, Hiei, chose a comfortable spot on Yusuke's couch and watched.

Yusuke: "Let it go, Gabby, he didn't know what he was saying!"

Gabi: insert Godzilla roar

Yusuke: O.O;

Kuwabara: walking backwards towards the door.

Hiei: making popcorn

Kurama: "Hiei, we could use some help here!"

Hiei: "_I'm_ not going to assist that miserable puke because he's stupid. _Let_ him die." Pops a piece of popcorn into his mouth.

Kuwabara: trips and falls

Gabi: breaks free of the two teens' grip and pounces of him. Insert jaguar growl.

Kuwabara: screams like a girl, holding his hands up to protect himself.

Botan: pops up through the floor on her oar. "Hello, all!"

Gabi: stops in mid pounce and looks at Botan.

"Botan: whips out miniature television inside of a brief case. Koenma's face appears on the screen.

"Hello, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, Gabi." The little deity greeted with a wave of his hand. "There is a disturbance in the City of Ghosts and Apparitions. I'm sending you all their to investigate _only_, do not make conflict in this city! Understand?" he aimed his glare directly at Yusuke.

"The City of Ghosts and Apparitions? Isn't that where we beat the Four Saint Beasts on our first case?"

"Correct, now off you go! I expect a full report from _each_ of you when you return, so don't try to sidle away _during or after_ this mission." The tiny ruler waved a farewell and blinked off the screen. Yusuke sighed, "How the heck are we supposed to get there?"

"The same way you did last time, Yusuke! Remember that hole in the warehouse basement?" Botan smiled as she disappeared into the floor. Half an hour later, the Tantei, and their newest member were trekking around the grounds outside the City of Ghosts and Apparitions.


	5. City of Ghosts and Apparitions

Chapter 5

City of Ghosts and Apparitions

The air was foggy and green, giving the stone city a dreary look, like Count Dracula's castle. The last time the Tantei had come to this city, two of them were nearly killed by the Fugaki, or gutter imps. Now, the lowly creatures crowded around the five, but scuttled around in a ten-foot radius, moving out of their way when the Tantei came forward. The dark mist made the air chilly and stuffy at the same time. A small wind blew across the land, taking the scents of the detectives with it.

The imps instantly began to chatter amongst themselves. "Kurama and Hiei are back, yes, yes. But who is this fawn they have with them?" Gabi looked over her shoulder at the muttering Fugaki; she could feel their eyes on her back. Shaking of a funny feeling, she turned back to the group. Detecting her unrest, Yusuke slowed his pace and took a place slightly behind her left side to protect her. He raised his reiki, letting it wash over the gutter imps; they growled and scuttled farther away, almost disappearing behind the fog.

The city was very quiet and empty. Occasionally, one of the Fugaki was seen scrambling about in the alleys, or darting across the street. "What's with this place? It was crawling with yokai last time we were here! Where is everyone?" Kuwabara mused aloud. Kurama raised his head and smelled the air. "There is no scent of blood in the air, nor of any other beings but the Fugaki. There was no struggle here."

"Why did Koenma send us here to check out a 'disturbance' when there isn't anyone here to make one?" Yusuke kicked a tin can in the gutter, sending it clanging down the street.

"Maybe the disturbance _was_ that every one _left_ here." Gabi wandered into the middle of the intersection of two streets. She had changed her attire from her school uniform, as did the rest of the Tantei, save Hiei. Each of them wore jeans and a t-shirt. The belt around Gabi's waist had curious looking holsters on them; they held a weapon, but a flap concealed what they were. "Well, nothing really seems out of place here." Thunder rumbled in the distance; a storm was moving in.

Hiei leapt to the top of a two-story building, unmasking his Jagan eye. "There's some one in the castle, the only thing here that's not a Fugaki."

Gabi turned in a circle, surveying her surroundings. The streets were empty. The rest of the Tantei shifted restlessly. Steam rose from a manhole; Gabi approached and stomped on the edge, flipping it up into the air. Catching the heavy metal disk, she put it on the ground and peered into the steam. Some squishing sounds were heard. A slimy, clawed hand shot out of the fog towards her. A sewer dwelling Fugaki seized her around the throat; she fell backwards with the monster on top of her. "Gabi!" Yusuke charged forward to help his friend; he stopped short at the sound of a gunshot and a flash of familiar blue light. The monster slumped and was pushed off. Gabi sat up, one hand behind her for support, the other holding a glock with the barrel pointed upwards.

"Jesus tap-dancing Christ!" he said, "what are you doing with a freakin' gun!"

"Like your spirit gun is any different. This isn't a normal gun, Yusuke." She said, pulling herself up.

"Explain."

"This can use clips charged with spirit energy instead of bullets. It's just like a spirit gun; only each shot is more contained and more accurate. Though, unlike a spirit gun, the clips are like a battery, so they don't take energy from me, they take it from the clip; if I was with out any spirit energy in my body, there would some in the clip, so I could use it. Literally, a rei-gun."

"….Where did you get something like that?"

"A friend of mine makes weapons for me, named Suzuka; old family friend. I have a glock, and a berretta, and a 12 gauge-"

"Hey, didn't Suzuka compete in the Dark Tournament?" Kuwabara approached them, scratching his head.

"Dark Tournament? He never told me anything about being a fighter; I only knew him as a weapon crafter." Gabi replaced the firearm in her belt holster.

The Fugaki, ignored to this point, attempted to sneak back into the sewer. Gabi stomped on the edge of his filthy robe. "Just where do you think you're going? Why did you jump out at me like that, huh?" the imp trembled under her stare, holding the spirit bullet wound in his shoulder. "Heh heh, I was _sooo_ hungry, and the flesh of a human is a treat-"

"What are you doing, trying to eat my friend?" Yusuke roared, "Get out of here before I blow your head off with a _real _spirit gun!"

The imp squeaked and skittered into the hole, pulling the man hole cover over the entrance. Kurama gave the detective a disapproving look, "That was unwise, Yusuke, we might have been able to get some information out of him."

"Yeah Urameshi, screwing up is my job!" Kuwabara said defensively.

"If you all are done wasting time, we can continue." Hiei spoke from the rooftop. The Tantei turned towards him, "There is _some one_ in the castle." He leapt down, landing neatly with a stoic expression.

They began to trek toward the stone fortress, reminiscing on not so pleasant memories of their previous visit. "Is that little eyeball freak gonna pop out at us and make the ceiling drop?" Yusuke said, stopping at the skull-shaped entrance.

"No," Hiei tread onward, "There is only one person here, now." he said, replacing the ward to his Jagan. The journey through the slightly crumbling castle was quiet and relatively uneventful. Genbu's lair was devoid of anything but broken rock from the ceiling and walls. The Den of Fire, Byakko's lair, was no longer fiery. The lava had long since cooled, turning into a rich soil, as molten rock tends to do. Several small plants found their way into the castle and took root in the Den of Fire. The many doors leading to traps and dead ends were all boarded up or caved in; only one door remained accessible. The bronze doors to Seryu's domain were hanging from their hinges, tinted green with rust.

The final tower, Suzaku's domain, was waiting for them. The roof of the room was completely destroyed; weather worn debris littered the ground. No one was there, or in any other part of the castle. "Well, who ever was here, isn't here anymore. Are you sure there was someone here, Hiei?" Gabi prodded a piece of unrecognizable rubble with her foot. The fire yokai glared at her, "Yes, I am." He said calmly but with difficulty. She straightened, closing her eyes to give strength to her other senses. "It's here...but not here; like seeing a shadow, but not being able to turn around to see who's it is."

A small drizzle came from the sky and a warning rumble from the sky to get inside. A tongue of amethyst smoke reached out from between the cracks on the ground and wrapped around Gabi's form, a similar wisp of evil broke away and twisted around the person closest to her; Yusuke. At this moment, two things happened and go as follows: "Hey, I can't move!" Kuwabara yelled. His paralyzed body slowly tipped forward, "Not the face! Not the face!" plunk! He landed on his chin, biting his tongue. "It appears I too cannot move." Kurama remained frozen while standing, tipping over in the breeze but landing on his back. "What the hell is going on?" Hiei growled from the ground, just as helpless as the others. The next thing to happen was the appearance of a monster in front of Gabi.

**First perspective**

A stone colored gargoyle eyed her with yellow eyes. Pebbly skin covered his body, save his membranous wings and dinosaur like feet. The monster backed away from her in surprise, and then took a fighting stance. Yusuke was nowhere to be found. "Monster! Where is Yusuke?" she snarled, drawing her glock 9. "Gabi, what the hell are you doing!" Kuwabara yelled. The creature gave an incoherent cry, shrill and garbled. She fired a round straight toward him. The beast took to the sky to dodge her miniscule, but devastating spirit bullet. Landing back on the ground, the remainder of the clip was spent shooting after the creature. He barely managed to dodge the shots. He charged her and landed a punch in her stomach.

Gabi was hurled back, slamming painfully into the remainder of a wall. She drew the berretta from her other holster and put the glock away. The glock was stronger, but the berretta was faster. The gargoyle's fist was centimeters from her face when a Reitama pierced his shoulder. He fell back and shrieked. Gabi scurried away, holding her stomach. She skidded over to where Hiei was standing and snatched his katana out of the sheath. "Borrowing! Please and thank you!"

"Damn it, onna, get back here!" he snarled. The rain poured down harder.

A ball of spirit energy came hurtling towards her head; she tilted the katana and deflected it with the mirror edge. "You anus-dwelling octo-pussy! That almost took my head off!" (potty mouth!)Gabi charged and made a thrust at the beast. Dodging with only a scrape, the gargoyle ran to the side and jumped onto a pile of debris, picking up a wooden beam. The wood was soft from being out in the open for over five years, but it suited his needs nicely. She made a horizontal arc, intending to take his head off. He rolled away and held up the beam like a weapon. "Like that rotted bit of wood would do you any good." She scoffed, narrowing her eyes. With a sprint, the katana pierced easily through the beam to the hilt. "Uh-oh." He spun the beam like the hand of a clock, ripping the hilt of the blade out of her hands; letting it fall, he attacked with both hands.

Gabi parried his blows with her own, slamming knuckle on knuckle. Their fighting techniques were similar, making it easy to predict each other, but easy to dodge as well. She knew they could go on forever like this; she had to get the sword back! Turning, she ran away, jumping over the paralyzed bodies of her comrades. The gargoyle followed her, shrieking in its incomprehensible voice. She led him in a circle and headed for the katana. In a blur, the beast was in front of her again, with a ball of energy waiting for her. She locked up and prepared herself for a jump; this would be embarrassing, but at least the others were separated from her by a pile of rubble. She hurtled, making herself intangible, and passed through the foul creatures body… leaving her clothes behind.

Tumbling in her underwear, she picked up the stuck katana by the hilt, turned, let her self fall back, and kicked hard on the piece of wood. It slid off easily and smacked the creature in the back of the head. He fell forward, rubbing his head and snarling in his own jagged language. Gabe stood in the rain, with the katana held to the side with the tip pointing up. Her eyes reflected off the blade dangerously. The gargoyle stared at her, then froze, alarmed. Maybe it was because she was standing in her undies in the rain like a Victoria's Secret model. She let out a battle cry and attacked. The beast made no move to defend him self and she slammed him against the remnants of a wall with the blade against his throat. "You get one last chance, where is Yusuke?" she whispered dangerously. He pointed calmly to a nearby puddle; she glanced at the rippling image within and gasped, dropping the sword.

**Second** **perspective**

Yusuke saw his comrades fall down. He stared at them in confusion before a red monster caught his eye. He jumped back in surprise. It was like a bug, with wiry hairs lining the edges of its arms and legs. The huge glassy eyes spotted him. It waved its whip-like antennae and made a squeaky, clicking sound through its mandibles. The bug then raised its arm to fire a small bead of amethyst-colored energy. "Gabi, what the hell are you doing!" Kuwabara said. "Gabi? Where is she? I don't see her!" Yusuke said. The small shot of energy barely grazed his leg as he jumped high into the air to dodge it. A dozen more beads followed him when he landed. He managed to dodge them all with some difficulty and charged the freaky cricket. He landed a solid punch in the stomach, sending the creature into a shattered wall.

It remained still as he continued to charge at it. His fist almost hit its face when a bead of white-hot pain tore through his shoulder. He fell backwards while the insect skittered away towards Hiei. He aimed with his good arm and fired his spirit gun at it. The bug stole Hiei's katana and ran with it. "Damn it onna, get back here!" the koorime snarled. The sky was crying. Using the reflective edge of the sword, his spirit gun blast was deflected. Squeaking angrily with several clicks, the bug charged at him with the sword.

Yusuke dodged the katana, only scratching his side. He couldn't fight a sword with his bare hands; he needed a weapon. Jumping on top of a pile of aged rubble, he picked of an old beam of wood. The wood was soft from being exposed to the elements, but that was the point. He rolled away from the rubble, just in time to keep his head on his shoulders. When the bug thrust the sword at him, he used the beam as a shield, letting the sharp blade pierce the wood. Turning the beam, he pulled the katana out of its grasp. He proceeded to shower the bug with punches and kicks; but each one was matched perfectly. It was as if they had the exact same moves.

Suddenly, the giant roach turned tail and ran. He followed it as it ran and jumped over the bodies of his friends and made a circle back to where it had dropped the katana. "Oh, no you don't." with a burst of speed, he came between the bug and the sword with his spirit gun charged. He gasped as the insect tumbled straight through him as if he were air. He stood dumbfounded as a piece of wood smacked him in the back of the head. "OW! You S.O.B. that fing hurt!" he turned to glare at the bug. It stood with Hiei's katana out to the side, reflecting its face. He saw a flash of green in contrast to the red of the bug's skin; Gabi's eyes glared angrily at him. He looked back at the bug, only to see his friend standing in the rain…in her drawers? He froze, realizing what had happened. He had been fighting her under the illusion of a monster; if she was still fighting him, she didn't realize who he was…

Gabi charged with a battle cry; Yusuke remained still and let her slam him into a wall. With Hiei's sword pressed to his throat, she glared hatefully at him, "You get one last chance, where is Yusuke?" she growled. He pointed to a nearby puddle with his reflection rippling in the water. She glanced at the reflection in it and gasped, dropping the sword.

**Joined**

Yusuke rubbed his neck with his good arm as she backed away, "Damn, that gun fing hurts!" he laughed at her confused expression.

"Yusuke, I- oh!" her hands went to cover herself, realizing she was in her underwear in front of him. She ran to pick up her clothes and looked back at him. "You won't-"

"Naw," he said, shaking his head, "as long as you never shoot me again. She smiled, "Thanks." Running behind a fragment of wall to dress, Gabi left Yusuke to see to the others as the rain had stopped. They had been freed from their paralysis and stood up. Hiei retrieved his sword with a 'hn,' while Kurama and Kuwabara helped Yusuke piece together what happened. "Dude, she was like, 'Where's Yusuke!' and then pow pow pow pow!" Kuwabara illustrated, shaping his hands like a gun.

"And then you attacked her and sent her into a wall." Kurama added with grammatical grace.

"Then she capped you in the arm and stole the shrimp's sword!"

"After you disarmed her with that old rotten beam, she led you around the tower and disappeared behind that large pile there."

"What happened, Urameshi? We couldn't see or hear anything after that!" Yusuke scratched his nose with his good arm and smiled.

"Well, she hit me with that beam and pinned me against a wall with Hiei's sword. I saw her reflection in the edge, and the illusion wore off. She still thought I was a monster though, so I showed her my reflection in a puddle and the spell broke on her too." Gabi walked out from behind the wall, "Sorry I shot you Yusuke, we ought to get that looked at. I don't think I hit the major artery, because there isn't a lot of blood, but I may have severed a ligament in your shoulder."

Yusuke dismissed her by waving his hand, "First lets find who ever cast that spell or whatever. Koenma will give us an earful if we come back empty handed."

"Found it." Hiei said, kicking up a piece of the roof.


	6. Fight, Flight Party Tonight!

Ch6 Fight, Flight…Party Night!

Under the piece of debris was a round circle of smooth, polished metal. The disk was about half a meter across; and though it appeared to be a mirror, it was not. Gabi looked down at her reflection, and through it she saw the mirror was hazy, as if it were a window of a house looking out into the fogginess of night. "What's this?" she reached down to touch it and suddenly jerked her hand away, hissing between her teeth. Kurama approached the mystical disk and peered into it.

He kicked a small stone onto the disk; it did nothing to harm the small stone, and so he tapped it quickly with one finger. Seeing it caused no harm, he picked up the mirror to examine it closer. "What is the evil that flows from that mirror, Kurama?" Gabi asked, cringing.

"It's reiki, it feels like reiki, but it is not a living thing. Perhaps this mirror is some sort of carrier or storage for energy; that would explain why Hiei's Jagan detected it as a reiki source."

"I wonder what it does. Shall we return to Koenma and let him examine it?"

"Well, there's nothing else to do here." Yusuke put his hands behind his head lazily, "if we can't fight anybody, and the only people around are Fugaki, lets just go back."

"Agreed then, let us leave at once." Kurama said and tucked the mirror under his arm to reach into his pocket for his communicator with his other hand. Botan was summoned and a new portal was created from Makai to the Reikai headquarters.

"This is an interesting piece of equipment, you have found. I believe it is a transmitter of spirit energy; one can use something like this to spread the affects of a special power from a long distance. It's like a walkie-talkie for reiki. And from what you described to me, I believe this is the work of an illusionist-hypnotist." Koenma stared at the disk on his desk. Kurama wrung out his hair while listening. George the ogre handed out fluffy towels with the Reikai seal embroidered on the corners.

"Can you find out who made it, or who is using it, better yet?" Gabi leaned on Koenma's desk, dripping but attentive.

"I'll have it scanned for fingerprints and spiritprints right away. Ogre!" he barked. George ran to his lord's side, "Take this mirror and have it analyzed right now." The small ruler ordered. The blue ogre picked up the disk with soft cloths in each hand so as not to transfer his own fingerprints to it, or mar any evidence of existing prints. "The results should come back within the hour, in the mean time… Yusuke, Gabi! You two are in for it now! I said not to get into conflict!"

"Get off our backs Koenma!" Yusuke yelled, flipping him off, "Nobody got hurt but us, so go take your pacifier and stuff it up your ass!"

"We didn't hurt any body, Koenma. No one was in the city but gutter imps anyway!" Gabi pleaded, coming between them.

"The point was not to fight at all, and you completely disobeyed orders, Gabi! This isn't some game; there are real lives at stake! A rookie like you wouldn't understand, I never should have put you on this case in the first place if you can't even obey simple instructions!"

Gabi stared back at him, her lip thin, and eyes wide and penetrating. She put her hand on his desk and leaned in close to his face, making him press uncomfortably into the back of his chair, and said in a soft but powerful voice, "The _point, _your _majesty, _is that youdid. Given the situation and my frame of mind, I had to protect the others from what I perceived as a threat. I could not have stood by and let that threat go on no matter what I had agreed to. If your brain can't process that information, I'd be glad just to let you fire me and never have to see my face in here again." She straightened and walked out of the room with an imposing rung. The room was silent for several minutes. "Dick," Yusuke followed Gabi to make sure she was all right. Kurama followed to make sure she knew her way home from Reikai. Kuwabara followed, wondering what the hell had just happened. Hiei…he had disappeared during the course of the argument.

"Yo, Gabi." Yusuke said softly, approaching the female radiating energy she could not yet channel. "You okay? I've almost never seen you mad like that before." She turned to face him, he jumped back in surprise; her reiki, though weak compared to his own, made her eyes smolder in a way the overhead lighting paled in link to. Her short curls writhed as her wild ki flared outside of her body. Growling, she clenched her fists and raised her arm to destroy something. Settling for the drywall beside Yusuke's head, her head bowed and her muscles relaxed. She started to shake like she was cold. "Pig-headed male." She muttered, revealing her bright green eyes and a smile. Yusuke smiled, having his old friend back in place of the fiery amazon.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Kurama stood in the hallway, observing the two. Yusuke laughed, "Naw, we were just leaving. Want to come? I was planning a little get-together at my place, in celebration of Gabi's stay; well, Keiko and I planned it but it's at my place."

"How could you have been planning? You only realized she was staying this morning; I was listening to your conversation from across the room."

"Yeah, I remember, when Gabi called you a twig." Yusuke scratched his head again. "I had a feeling that she wasn't going anywhere. Either way, I was going to have a shindig."

"Well, what ever the case, I would love to come. Are you going to invite Kuwabara?"

"Somebody say my name?" said carrot-top made his way down the hallway. "Yo, Kuwabara, be at my place by eight, we're throwin' Miss. Temper-tantrum here a party."

"She's scary…"

"Just don't piss her off and she's happy as a clam. Speaking of which, she disappeared. Kurama did you- crap! Where'd he go?" Yusuke glanced around, finding the two of which he had been speaking gone.

"So, you think I'm a twig, do you?" Kurama said goodheartedly.

"You're pretty skinny, like me; we have the same build." Gabe toweled her head with the towel she got from Koenma. She had changed her clothes again at Yusuke's house, waiting for him to get home. Kurama had borrowed clothes from Yusuke, being as close as a brother to him.

"Actually, yours is a bit different in your shoulders; they're proportionally wider, giving you the build for much strength."

"Really. Speaking of strength, I wonder when Koenma will get me some training…"

"Training? For what?"

"Oh, nothing." Gabe kept her face hidden under the towel. Her shamanism was a secret between only her and Yusuke. "Do you play checkers?" she said, pulling a pocket-sized magnetic-board game out of her bag.

"Yes, I do. So, from what I had heard, you travel quite a bit." Kurama sat on the couch in front of the coffee table, while Gabi chose to sit on the floor across the table from him.

"Yeah, its for my foster father's work."

"Foster father; are you… an orphan?" His green eyes mimicked her own. Gabi nodded, moving a red piece. "How unfortunate for you; I almost was one also; my mother had become very ill once."

"You don't have a father?"

"I do now; she remarried a short while after she had recovered. My blood father died when I was an infant." He moved a black piece. "I have a mother, a father, and even a little brother now. Having a family is so…"

"Fulfilling?"

"Yes…"

"I never knew my blood family. Daren said he had known them; he used to tell me stories about them when I was a little girl. I don't think half of them where true; they were like fairy-tales." Gabi jumped one of his pieces.

"What were they like?"

"He says they were magical… they could heal and create and love with all their hearts. They sent me away to protect me, and died for their love of me… it was so much more interesting the way he told it." She laughed at herself. Kurama frowned slightly. "Its okay, you don't have to feel sorry for yourself like that."

"What? Oh, I was just thinking; I can't tell a story unless I sing it. I'll let you in on a little secret," she raised her hand to her mouth as if someone else could be listening. "I love to sing, and I play, and I dance a lot. Music is like a part of me, but I don't do it a lot for other people." Kurama jumped two of her pieces in a row and reached the opposite side of the board, "King me. I used to know someone who could sing. She had a beautiful voice, but little confidence to sing in front of others."

"Who was she?"

"…Its not important." Yusuke's front door opened. "There you are, right on time, Yusuke." He said. Yusuke glared, "What do you mean, 'right on time?' Its my house!" he stomped in, followed by Keiko, Kuwabara, Shizuru, Botan, and Yukina shadowed by Hiei; all of whom were laden with food. "Kurama?"

"Hm?" he turned back to Gabi.

"I win."

(O.O)"But… how?"

The group of old friends settled and distributed the high-in-sugar products. Botan seized Gabi by the hand, "So nice to meet you personally! My name is Botan!"

"Yo." She replied coolly.

"This is Shizuru; Kuwabara's older sister, and Yukina-"

"Yo, we're acquainted. 'Sup Shizuru?"

"The ceiling." The brunette slapped her a high five. "You look like a musician."

"How'd you guess?"

"You have nimble fingers, but they're a bit worn. What do you play?"

"Oh, this and that."

"Can you play guitar?"

"Yeah,"

"Yusuke has a guitar." Keiko said. "Will you play something for us, Gabi? Please? You sing good songs when you play."

"I don't know, Keiko. There is a bunch of people here, and I'm really not that good…"

"Please?" Keiko pleaded, "I'll bring you those cookies that you love so much."

"HOT DOG!" at her shout, several heads turned. Gabi dashed into Yusuke's room in search of the guitar. Several crashes were heard, "Found it!" she bounded back into the room, leaping on the coffee table. "Music time, kiddies! Gather round! Gather round!" The girls took the couch, while the boys scattered themselves on chairs and side tables. "What did you want me to sing, Keiko?"

"How about something from one of the countries you've been to?" Yukina's face lit up, "Yes, something from a foreign land!"

"Oh, like _that_ narrows it down, Keiko. Hey, that gives me an idea," Gabe strummed the neglected guitar, tuning the cords and stretching her fingers; she struck a wrong cord here and there, but no one seemed to mind. At length she began to sing. Her voice was fair and strong, filling the room and lending to the song. The tune was not consistent, but neither were the lyrics; she sang a mix of Jonny Cash, Aqua, and Metallica.

**I was totin' my pack****Along the dusty Winnemucca road****When along came a semi****With a high and canvas covered load****"If you're going to Winnemucca, Mack****With me you can ride."****So I climbed into the cab****And then I settled down inside****He asked me if I'd seen a road****With so much dust and sand****And I said, ****"Listen, Bud I've traveled every road in this here land."** Yusuke beat on the coffee table, helping Gabi keep pace. The others unconsciously started to clap. Hiei disappeared in disgust until further noticed. An image was created in their minds: clouds, mountains, plains, deserts, lakes, oceans, forests, and jungles… **I've been everywhere, man****I've been everywhere, man****'Cross the deserts bare, man****I've breathed the mountain air, man****Of travel, I've had my share, man**** I've been every- where.****Been to Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota,****Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota,****Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma,****Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma,****Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador, Amarillo,****Tocopilla, Barranquilla, and Padilla, I'm a killer.****I've been everywhere, man****I've been everywhere, man****'Cross the deserts bare, man****I've breathed the mountain air, man****Of travel, I've had my share, man ****I've been every- where.**Gabi struck a high note; Yusuke, unable to control himself, whooped. Kurama felt swept away, feeling connected and familiar. Their new friend could _sing._**I' ve been around the world - hey, hey  
I' ve been around the world - hey, hey  
In the kitchen where I' m cooking what is good for me  
Spices from the globe  
Little by little it' s the finest meal  
It' s appetite for hope - come and see**

You mix it all together in your dreams  
Ingredients from the Seven Seas and  
I' m realizing things ain' t what they seem  
That' s the riddle of it  
That' s the spirit of it  
That's the power of life

Places appeared in their imaginations: little grass huts, towering skyscrapers, grand palaces, ancient temples, sleepy country houses, compacted cities, quiet towns, and electric tourist traps…**  
I' ve been around the world (Round the world)  
And I' ve seen it all (Seen it all)  
I' ve been around the world (Round the world)  
The sun will always rise and fall  
I' ve been around the world (Round the world)  
And I want you to see (Seen it all)  
I' ve been the only girl (Round the world)  
All surrounded by mystery**  
.**..And with dust in throat I crave  
only knowledge will I save  
to the game you stay a slave  
rover wanderer  
nomad vagabond  
call me what you will  
but I'll take my time anywhere  
free to speak my mind anywhere  
and I'll redefine anywhere  
anywhere I may roam  
where I lay my head is home**Faces developed: small, brown Indian men; soft, pale Chinese ladies; burly, bearded Germans; red, wispy-haired Native Americans; grinning Spaniards, waving children of all colors; all of the people smiling, happy to see them, as if the teens were there…**  
...And the earth becomes my throne  
I adapt to the unknown  
under wandering stars I've grown  
by myself but not alone  
I ask no one  
...and my ties are severed clean  
the less I have the more I gain  
off the beaten path I reign  
rover wanderer  
nomad vagabond  
call me what you will**The loneliness of the Road became apparent; she emptied her longing of normality into her song.**  
Anywhere I may roam  
where I lay my head is home  
carved upon my stone  
my body lie, but still I roam  
wherever I may roam **

The journey stopped and they were in Yusuke's apartment again. All was silent; Gabi blushed and fingered the guitar pegs. They started to applaud, cheering. Gabi lifted the guitar strap over her head. The group made sounds of disappointment at this. "Have you really gone to all those places, Gabi?" Yukina asked.

"What places?"

"Your song- I could see places and people. I saw where you went, like I could see into your mind. You put a lot of feeling into your music."

Gabi burst out laughing, "Yup, and I've got enough souvenirs to last me a life time. Speaking of which, I think I've got just enough with me to give everybody one." Digging in her bag, Gabi pulled out several items and passed them around. "Yusuke, for you I have fine, authentic German beer, Mörder Leber." (Liver Killer)

"YES!" Keiko furrowed her eyebrows at Gabi. "Don't worry Keiko, I trusted that he doesn't know German; the bottle actually says non-alcoholic under the label. I got mineral bath salts for you from Hungary, _they_ know how to enjoy hot springs, let me tell ya'. They're very relaxing for someone like you who puts up with Yusuke almost everyday."

"Wow, thanks!"

"Lets see, I don't know the rest of you very well, but I'll do my best based on what Yusuke and Keiko have told me. Hmm. Kuwabara, for you I shall give a Steven Lynch cd from New York City, the home of Comedy Central."

"Sweet! It comes with bonus tracks!"

"Kurama, you strike me as a tea man. I treat you to a year's supply of Chai tea, from India."

"Lovely!"

"Shizuru, from Paris I bring you the finest of makeup!"

"How did you know I studied cosmetology?"

"Yukina, I got you a small bow and arrow set from Greece; the same kind used by Artemis, goddess of the hunt and chastity. I don't know what you might use it for, but it's adorable just the same."

"It's beautiful! Thank you."

"Where's Hiei? Did he disappear again?"

"I don't see him anywhere, he probably left." Yusuke said.

"That's okay, I'll save his gift for later. Until then, let us commence the merrymaking!"


	7. Vacation Elation

A little more fluff, I hope it don't suck too badly. Did you know if you add another 'U' to 'Youko' and make it 'youkou', it means 'sunshine' in Japanese?

Also, in response to a question, Gabi is in fact Kurama's past lover, Gabe; if you read the prequel to this story. Hiei will get his gift, but it will be later than expected. I'm having a bit of trouble with the plot, so I can't update much now. Sorry.

Ch7 Vacation Elation

It came to pass that in the following weeks, Gabi attended school and made good friends of the Tantei. She competed with Kurama in their classes, and spent a lot of time with the Tantei; when ever Hiei could bear it. Gabi had never met with them at her own home, preferring to be with her friends at their houses. The strange thing was, not even Yusuke or Keiko had any idea where she lived. Her foster father was ignorant of her double life as a Spirit Detective and shaman.

It was a Thursday; and the following day was a student holiday, giving all the students a three-day weekend so that the teachers could evaluate their report cards. The four friends who attended school were walking home together. The last bell had only just rung when a call from Koenma on the communication mirror yanked Yusuke out of his good mood. "Don't tell me you have a case for us, Koenma!" he groaned.

"No one is ever happy to see me! No one!" the little deity whined pitifully. "The results from analyzing the mirror you found have finally been revealed. I don't know why it took so long; the spirit print must not have been on our immediate crime files. Anyway, the user of the mirror is a water-based yokai who is named Oneiros Morpheus. The only information we have on him is his birth record, it seems he keeps a very low profile. He has no family as far as we know, so we can't got to them for any information."

"Is that it?" Yusuke said.

"No," Koenma replied tersely, "I'm sending you all to the Pacific coast as a long deserved vacation in the mean time."

"Vacation? Are you serious!"

"I'm quite serious, Yusuke; and do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Take a look at my desk; notice anything?"

"…Its uh…clean?"

"We finished all the paper work. _All_ of it! I am no longer a slave to my desk! Ah ha ha ha ha!" the toddler spun around in his swiveling chair, laughing maniacally. "See you Monday!" he clicked out. Botan appeared out of nowhere on her oar. "Hello! By your expression, I'm guessing you all got the good news!"

"Gah!" Yusuke nearly jumped out of his skin. "Don't do that!"

"Vacation? Is he serious?" Kuwabara said in disbelief. Botan nodded feverishly. She landed herself and vanished her oar, making herself visible to normal human eyes. Her clothes were normal; she decided not to wear her pink kimono in public. "Lets go, guys, the bus is waiting." at her words, a city bus pulled up beside her.

"Go? Now? Botan, we haven't packed or asked our parents or anything!" Gabi said, knitting her brow.

"Don't worry," Botan said, stepping onto the bus. The others followed in suit, "your parents have been contacted, and we told them you're all going on a field trip. As for packing, all necessary items have been provided at the house you're staying at; even clothes and food." as the four friend got on the bus, they noticed it was almost empty. The only people on board were Shizuru, Keiko, Genkai and Yukina. George the ogre sat in the driver's seat with a bus driver's uniform on and a hat covering is horn. "Hey guys, 'bout time you showed up." Shizuru waved to them. Gabi ran down the aisle between the seats and sat on the seats across from her and the others. Yusuke yawned and chose a bench to sleep on. Botan and Kurama joined their friends as George drove away in the bus that humans didn't even know was there.

"Hey Yukina, long time no see!" Kuwabara laughed goofily. Unknown to him, Hiei sat above them all in the luggage shelf, growling and polishing his katana. The bus ride was only an hour or so long, and no one else seemed to be on the highway. Gabi had suspected this was a road built by spirit world just for this occasion. It would disappear when its purpose was served and it no longer had a use. When the bus finally stopped, all nine of the passengers were anxious and hungry. They piled out of the bus, waving goodbye to George as it disappeared. They looked at their surroundings, smelling the salty sea not too far away. Botan led the way across the tickly grass, towards a two-story red brick house. The house was about two hundred yards away from the water in high tide.

"Cool, check out that sea! We can go surfing!" Kuwabara said.

"Do you even know how to surf?" Yusuke raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"That isn't the point. The point is that it's cool." this argument carried on for some time. When they finally reached the house, they could hardly wait to eat something. The smell of food alerted them of an early and needed dinner. A dinner had been made for them and waited on the dining room table. Attacking the food first, they explored the rest of the house after words. It was magically built to be bigger on the inside than the outside so every one could have their own rooms. The sun was an hour or so from getting ready to set, so most of them went to explore the beach until the sun set. Botan, Shizuru, Gabi, Yukina, Keiko, Kuwabara, and Kurama trudged across the soft sand, leaving footprints that disappeared with each coming in wave. They had put on shorts and t-shirts they found in their closets, and walked barefoot. Keiko and Botan, examining shells and listening to the sounds inside, accompanied Yukina. Gabi was playing in the ocean; Shizuru and Kuwabara had been talked into doing this as well. Kurama just enjoyed the air and wet sand between his toes.

Gabi had been swept off her feet more than once by the on coming waves; she was soaked, but blissful. Suddenly, she stood up very straight and listened. "Shizuru, do you hear that?" she said, craning her head to listen. A faint wailing sound drifted over the sound of surf. "What is that?" Shizuru brushed her wet hair out of her face. Gabi ran onto the sand, trying to hear a little better. "Kurama, do you hear that?" she pulled him out of his trance. He tilted his head to listen, "I do. What is that sound? It's inhuman." Gabi listened to the crying a while longer. "Guys!" she waved to Keiko, Botan, Kuwabara, and Shizuru a little ways away from them. She motioned for them to follow her and ran across the beach around a small rocky wall jutting out of the ground, shielding another part of the beach. This was where the wailing cry was coming from. They came up behind Gabi, puffing, "What's the matter?" Gabi signaled for them to be quiet and motioned again for them to follow. She made her way around the rocky jut and climbed over the sea-worn stones. The water gently lapped at the rocks and beach, sloshing against the sides of a beached whale. They hid behind a rock and observed the beautiful Orca, its black and white pattern standing out in the browns and greens of the stony beach.

"What's wrong with it?" Yukina asked; Kuwabara was lifting her on top of the big rock for a better view. Botan floated up on her oar to see better too. "She's trapped," Gabi said, crawling around the rock. "Gabi! What are you doing? It could be dangerous!" Shizuru called. Gabi shook her head, "She needs us." she crawled forth on her hands and knees in the sand. The whale lay parallel to the waterline with its back toward the water, crying for help in its mystical whale tongue. Gabi came near the whale's face, looking into its eyes, softly singing no words in particular to soothe the oceanic giant. It stopped crying and became silent. Gabi motioned for her friends to come, "Its okay!" she called, "she trusts us." the others wandered over to her skeptically. Gabi laid her hand on the rubbery whale hide, "She can't get back in the water. She was here at high tide yesterday night and when the tide went out, she got trapped."

"How can you tell that?" Kuwabara said.

"I can tell." She said simply. The Orca was silent while they shyly touched her skin and walked around her. Botan looked at the whale's belly, where a huge bulge was, "Is something wrong with her stomach? It's huge!" Gabi pressed her ear to the whale's tummy for a while. Her head jerked away when something inside thrashed against her. "I think she's expecting. Is it true? Are you gonna be a mommy?" Gabi rubbed the gargantuan tummy, talking in a high-voice like she would speak to a baby. "Yes! I can feel it kicking! She's gonna get a baby!"

"We should get her back into the water then." Kurama said, "She'll eventually die if she stays here, as well as her unborn calf." he lowered his eyes sympathetically. Gabi looked around, searching for anything that could help. She saw a small rowboat, about ten feet in length, equipped with paddles. "I think I have an idea," she said.

Using the paddles, they propped up the boat on its sidebehind the Orca to keep the water away while they dug a hole. They dug feverishly with their hands, trying to make a hole big enough to fit a whale before the tide came in. The sand came up easily and they made a giant hole in no time at all. "We need to stretch it farther out, towards the water." Gabi said. They continued to dig as fast as they could; the boat began to wobble from its place, being forced away from the tide. "Alright, now we have to get her into the hole."

"How can we lift a freakin' whale?" Kuwabara cried.

"Not lift, roll." they all got on one side of the whale and pushed for all they were worth. "1, 2, 3, push!" The sand gave a little bit. "C'mon, guys, we can do it!" Botan urged them on. "1, 2, 3, push!" The whale pushed her flipper against the sand, trying to help. "The tide is coming in, Gabi! We're not going to make it!" the boat paddles began to break, and water leaked into the hole, melting the edges down. "Yes we will! One more time, 1, 2, 3, Push!" they all dug their feet into the sand and pushed the whale's side, careful as not to harm the calf inside, and she gently rolled into the hole on her stomach. They quickly moved the boat away and let the water wash in. The hole filled with water and lifted the whale enough to let her turn around and face the ocean. A second, bigger wave lifted her up; with a beat of her powerful tail she moved down the beach, into the water. The teens cheered and danced on the sand. 'This girl, she's so full of strength and love for all things,' Kurama thought.

Several hundred meters away, they spotted the creature spouting and flipping her tail in the air. she turned on her side and mimicked the humans, waving with her flippers. They waved back with both arms, bidding her fare well and visit again. "She'll be back," Gabe smiled, walking back up the beach. "How can you tell?" Botan walked up beside her, "Did she tell you?" Yukina asked and joined her other side.

"No, she is the sort of whale that stays in one area; I can tell by the size of her dorsal fin, and besides that, the calf moved lower inside her. She should be due at any day now. She'll most likely feed, then find a straight length of beach and give birth there."

"How do you know all these things?" Kuwabara asked, leading the others behind her.

"When you've traveled as much as I have, you know all sorts of useless and useful information."

Settling to the new house was no trouble at all, whenever something was needed like towels or clothes, it would suddenly appear right behind someone. The fridge was able to restock itself, and the TV in the living room was equipped with satellite. "We should come here more often." Yusuke said, lounging on the couch. "You'll be pulling double time when we get back, slacker." Genkai said.

"What!"

"Now, now, we were sent here for a break, lets not talk about something like that." Botan said cheerfully. The sun set behind the house, to the west. The sky was clear and filled with stars. A door popped out of nowhere on the top floor, and behind it was a room with a giant sunroof. All nine companions laid themselves on the ground with cushions supplied by the house, staring at the stars. They pointed out the stars, finding the constellations.

Kurama leaned against a corner with a cushion in his lap, thinking about Gabi. This girl came out of nowhere and already she had made an impression on everyone around her. In the back of is mind; he felt his heart tugged toward her. 'There must be more to her than meets the eye.'

(A/N: i don't know a whole ot about whales, but i looked up a few things. i really love whales. Happy Easter, ya'll!)


	8. Darkness in the Surf

There is a point to what is about to happen to Gabi and Kurama. In order to bring them together, they must first be drawn apart. I had a freaky dream about this; it's where I got the idea.

Ch 8 Darkness in the Surf

The morning came quickly and the vacant beach was soon occupied. Kuwabara and Yusuke were swimming in the ocean. Hiei preferred to stay dry, and went to the top of a cliff to practice his swordsmanship in the relaxing sea breeze. Shizuru and Botan were catching some rays; Genkai remained under an umbrella, fully clothed, just sleeping. Keiko and Yukina were beachcombing for more shells. Kurama was walking towards the water to have a swim with Yusuke and Kuwabara when he saw Gabi sitting apart from the others. He had wanted to get to know this enigmatic girl better.

Gabi sat wrapped in a towel on the beach, staring at the ocean; she felt a little worried about the whale, maybe being beached for a whole day had hurt her calf. What if it was _stillborn_? What if-?

A strong hand touched her shoulder; the redheaded fox knelt by her, "Gabi, would you… like to come swimming with me and the others?"

Gabi shyly nodded and stood up in her purple one-piece. She followed Keiko in her yellow one-piece, and Yukina in her mint green bikini. Yusuke whistled at them from the water, "Nice swim suit, Keiko!"

"Yusuke, you jerk!" she screamed. Gabi snickered as she parted ways with them and stepped into the water. She waded in up to her chest before she leaned forward and started to swim. She went below the surface with her goggles on she had around her neck. The water barrier between the ocean and the sky was ever-shattering glass that speckled light on the sandy ocean floor. She swam underwater for a while until she saw the bodies of her friends under the surface. She popped out of the water and gasped for air. She set her goggles against her forehead so she could see above water. "Hey Gabi!" Yusuke greeted her, "the water is perfect out here! We might be able to go surfing."

"We don't have any surf boards, Yusuke." As these words were said, four elliptical shapes emerged from the deep in a flurry of bubbles. "Hey! Cool! The house can generate us stuff all the way out here!" Gabi said, climbing onto a blue board with a dolphin painted on it. Yusuke chose the white one with flames painted around the edge. Kuwabara claimed a deep purple board with a moon on it and a wolf's head, leaving Kurama to a red board with a ghostly pirate's ship on a churning gold ocean in a sunset.

They turned on their boards and paddled farther away from shore. The waves became bigger and bigger; one would have stopped here and rode these simple waves; but, able to paddle farther, the Tantei was stronger, faster, braver, but not necessarily wiser. A colossal wave churned up from the sea and headed toward the beach. Swiveling quickly on their boards, they tried to get steady enough on their boards to stand up. None of the boys had ever surfed before, so this was no easy task. Kuwabara had made it to his knees before he was caught in a glorious wipeout, falling off his board. Yusuke was bent over, struggling to balance himself, flailing his arms, pitched over and bit foam, but he laughed when he fell. "Woooh!" he shouted when he resurfaced. Gabi and Kurama surfed side by side, standing up right perfectly, "Think you can surf the barrel like a pro, Kurama?" she said, standing side ways with her back to him and talking over her shoulder. "Shall we make a wager then?" he replied.

"First one to wipe out has to be towel-boy and get snacks!"

"Lets surf!" Kurama experimented and figured out how to steer the board. He made a curve and drew an 'S' in foam behind him, manipulating the flow of the wave. Gabi, rising to his challenge performed a different trick. Letting the spirits of the ocean guide her through her shaman powers, she turned parallel to the wave and surfed up the curve at an angle. When she reached the top, she flipped her board in mid air and landed back beside Kurama. Mouth agape, he stared, "I thought you never surfed before!"

"I never said that I didn't." the wave began to collapse and roll over itself, starting at one side. "C'mon, last one out of the barrel loses!" she shouted and went up against the wave again. Kurama followed her, trailing his hand on the wall of water beside him, enjoying the spray of water. The wave closed in close behind them; Kurama was neck-in-neck with Gabi, but she had the winning stretch, not being up against the wave. "Don't slip!" she teased.

"Don't make me laugh!" he grinned, closing the space between them. The closing tunnel lapped their boards; it was now or never. Suddenly, a dolphin leapt out of the wall of water and startled them. They screamed and tumbled into the water. Gabi, with her goggles on, looked for Kurama. He looked like a fleshy little seal in green trunks with a clump of bright red sea weed on his head. She would have laughed if she could; he looked like crap. She swam toward him, guiding him to the surface. Popping out of the water, she looked around. "Did you see that dolphin? It was jet black!"

"Perhaps it was some unknown species of porpoise." Kurama said; combing his bangs out of his eyes with is hand.

"Crazy head! That wasn't a normal dolphin; it was evil! Stupid fish!"

"You are being paranoid." He said rationally.

"Am no-" she disappeared beneath the water. Kurama dove after her. He could not see in the salty seawater without goggles, but he could see well enough to spot a black, dolphin-shaped object dragging a flesh-colored Gabi-shaped object away. He had taken most of the seeds out of his hair because of the saltwater, but he kept his rose whip just in case, and he used it. His whip that could cut through steel cut through the water and lashed around the dolphin's tail. He yanked hard, causing the dolphin to release his friend. The ebon sea-creature kicked hard and swam away with him. Down, down they went. Kurama felt the temperature drop as the light of the sun faded away.

Gabi resurfaced, sucked in a deep breath and went to rescue her friend from the unnatural beast. She could not swim nearly as fast as the dolphin, but she could see well with her goggles. The ocean floor was chillier than nearer to the surface. She spotted Kurama clinging to a rock on the floor with one hand and holding his whip that leashed the dolphin with the other. Approaching the thrashing monster, Gabi pulled the thorny bind away from its rubbery skin. The creature sped away as she then turned to Kurama. His breath had run out and he fell limp. Gabi turned suddenly to the rocky cliff; it extended under water as well as on land. _Aer en cava. Air within a cave._ A voice in her said spoke. Being a shaman, reading memories left behind in physical things was one of her traits; though the words always came to her in tongues of old.She looped her arms under his and across his chest and paddled underwater toward the dark wall.

The dangerously sharp rocks making up the wall were not easy to avoid with the motion of the sea pushing her forward and then dragging her back. Feathery stalks of seaweed brushed up against her, making her shiver in disgust. The lull of a wave forced her up against a rock. She was scratched slightly, but Kurama suffered a deeper cut. His blood clouded around her like his hair. Wrinkling her nose, she swam under a rocky over-hang and into a dark tunnel. Her head was swimming; she needed oxygen, and so did Kurama. Her head met air; she looked up and saw a small opening in the ceiling of a cave. With that shred of light, she clambered up onto a sandy area on top of a raw rock bed, dragging the red head with her. Kurama was bleeding from a small cut on his arm, but not breathing. Tearing off her goggles, she did some rescue breathing and was thankfully able to revive him.

Seawater gushed out of his mouth, he sat up, clutching the cut on his arm; the salt water stung the wound. His eyes were no longer green. Gabi was looking for her goggles when a fist came slamming into her head.

* * *

When she became conscious again, she saw a pair of amber eyes staring back at her. She scooted quickly away. The burning gaze belonged to a strange man in white. His features were haggard, as if poorly imitated; his robes were pristine white, but for a patch of blood red going down the side from a wound in his arm. His hair was a dull gray, like neglected silver, with no more sheen than lead. Ragged animal ears were mounted to his head, and a tail, similar in color to his hair swung behind him. He watched her scrabble away from him in fear, and laughed a wretched laugh. "Silly girl, don't try and hide your audacity from me. I can see in your eyes, you plan to attack me if I come closer."

"And I will, stranger; identify yourself!" she barked like a soldier.

"Me? Why, 'Gabi'," he hissed, "that's no way to address a friend, now is it?"

"You are no friend of mine!"

"No!" he shouted, bringing a thorny whip down on her. A bleeding 'X' appeared across her collar. She cried out and held the bloody wound. "I am not your friend, I will not have dealings with such a foul creature." he said and drew the bloodstained vine back to him.

"I don't understand, who are you?" she gasped, stepping further away from him. He laughed to himself, "Ningens were never all that smart. I shall humor you and 'spell it out' as your kind say." He whipped her leg at the thigh, making her fall down in pain, "Have a seat; my name is Youko. You have been trying to gain my respect, my favor, these past few weeks. I am thoroughly disgusted, a ningen, trying to make me an _equal_. You must pay for your arrogance!" his whip came up and down on her outstretched arm, trying to block the blow. She didn't understand the connection with this monster and anyone she knew.

"Stop!" she pleaded staining the sandy floor with her blood. He was purposely not slicing through her, to make her suffer more. "Take your prayers to Hell, ningen." He said coldly. She turned away, against the wall, but she could not get away from him. He cursed her, laughing and snarling, lashing her back relentlessly. Sitting on her knees, she put her hands on he wall to hold herself up against the painful stokes. Her head bowed with each hit; she grit her teeth, feeling pain like none other than the stinging of a thousand knives ripping her flesh away. "Ningen, why do you not scream? I know you feel pain, I can hear you crying, but you do not scream? Are you trying to look stronger than you are? Damn it, scream!" he lashed her again, his whip dripping with her blood. She sobbed soundlessly, but made did not cry out. The gray haired demon maneuvered his whip to wrap around her throat, pulling her away from the wall to face him. She tugged at the vine, chocking, as he pulled tighter. Her world began to spin, she had lost much blood and her air was being cut off.

Kurama pulled still tighter and laughed, "See you in Hell, scum." The hilt of a katana collided with his skull and he saw no more. Hiei stood next to the fallen figure, "What the hell?" he said, observing as the beastly creature transformed from a poor imitation of the legendary youko into a sleeping Kurama. Genkai stepped down into the cave behind Hiei. "What happened here?" she caught sight of the bloody wreck that was Gabi and rushed to her side. "Gabi, what happened? Gabi!" the old woman waved a hand in front of the teen's face. Her green eyes did not follow the motion. "She's in shock…" Genkai raised her hand to heal the numerous lacerations on Gabi's back. The blood stopped flowing at her touch, but the skin was still shredded.

"What in the nine hells possessed Kurama to do this to her?" Hiei said, scanning the surroundings, his Jagan opened. He cursed and picked Kurama up, putting him over his shoulder. Genkai moved the catatonic girl and carried her fireman style to avoid touching the wounds on her back. Gabi's voice returned too little too late, she screamed continuously as loud as her lungs let her until she ran out of breath and closed her eyes.


	9. Scarred

Hiei is a little out of character in this chapter, but only because he and Kurama are bound together: if one gets into trouble, the other is punished as well.

Ch 9 Scarred

Gabi jerked awake, contorting herself until she was on her feet with her hands near the ground in a crouch. She had been laid on her side in a strange room, probably produced by the house. The walls were soft, covered with foam, colored the purest of white. The furniture was that of a normal bedroom, a dresser, a wardrobe, a bedside table, and a chair by the bed, all of which was crafted out of driftwood. The sheets were a soft faded blue, and a warm sea breeze wafted through the window, over looking the setting sun on the sea. Gabi sat on her knees and held her head in her hands, breathing short ragged breaths. She was plagued by visions from the nightmare of all Nightmares. The edges were fuzzy, but still vividly colored, mostly red with her blood. Who was that demonic figure? Was that a dream? The sleeve of her blue pajamas slid down, revealing gauze wrapped around her forearm.

She screamed. It was real, she lifted the bottom of her shirt; she was bundled up like a mummy in bandages. She was wearing her swimsuit under the soft clothes. Her back suddenly started to burn like fire. She screamed, and kept screaming until her throat hurt. She was reduced to tears, and by the time she cried herself out, Genkai entered her room.

"Awake now?" she asked. Gabi wiped her cheek on her pajama sleeve, cowering away from her. "Don't be afraid, Gabi; nothing can hurt you in here. The house created a room only you, Yukina, and myself are able to see or enter. None of the others can hear or see you here." Gabi slumped on her side into the large fluffy pillow on her bed, drawing her feet under her. Her voice was cracked, but Genkai saw the words her mouth formed.

"I can't tell you who it was that did this to you, Gabi. It was lucky Hiei found you when he did, if he had not been training on top of the cliff that led down to the cave, you might have been killed by whatever the hell that was. Turn towards the window, let me check your back." She ordered softly.

Gabi obeyed with out a sound; Genkai pulled the pajama shirt up to the girl's shoulders and pulled away the bandages. "I don't understand why the wounds did not heal completely by pnematherapy, not even Yukina could make it all disappear." Gingerly, she touched one of the lacerations. Gabi twitched and whimpered. "Still sore? Well, Yukina could dull the pain if not heal it." Genkai sat on the side of the bed, "Listen, do you remember what happened?" Gabi nodded, tears staining her cheeks. "Do you remember that person?" she nodded again, "Do you know, was he someone you know?" Gabi paused and shook her head. At this moment, Yukina entered the room with a tray of food for Gabi, and some tea for all three of them.

"Yukina," Genkai motioned for her to come. Yukina closed the door and put the tray down. Genkai helped her take the bandages off Gabi's back and arm, and leg, rolling up her shirt and pant legs so they would not touch the wounds. Using her healing powers, Yukina let her energy flow and numbed the pain of the whip marks. Gabi laid face down on her pillow, with her eyes closed, but not asleep. The sound of the waves on the beach, and the tiny hum of the Koorime's energy flow were the only sounds. At length, she heard a voice sing, she looked over her shoulder and saw it was Genkai. She had a beautiful voice, and her song, though in Japanese, calmed her twitching and put her to sleep.

* * *

Hiei set Kurama on his bed just minutes after he knocked him out in the cave; he watched him until he awoke. The red headed teen slowly opened is eyes, only to find Hiei's katana pressed against his jugular. "What the hell was that, Kurama?" 

"Hiei! What are you-?"

"Don'tbull-shitme kitsune; what in the three Worlds made you so pissed that you tried to tear the ningen girl to pulp? We're bound together; if you get in trouble, I get punished too."

"…That wasn't a dream?" Gods, now she'd never like him… He had no doubt screwed up his friendship with her, and it wasn't even his fault; life is cruel.

"You had transformed to your yokai form and _whipped_ the girl until she could have _died_. She still has the lash marks if you want proof that wasn't a dream." He removed his sword from Kurama's throat and gestured to the side.

"God…I was so sure that was a dream! I don't even remember transforming, or what my reason was; I just saw myself…torturing her, demanding her to scream." Her rubbed the side of his face wearily. "Where is she now?"

"Genkai hid her somewhere in this house where none can enter but her, Gabi and Yukina. I have her orders to slice your legs off if you go anywhere near her." Normaly, Hiei took orders from noone, but in this scenario, he felt obligated to.

"How am I supposed to find out what happened, then!" Hiei raised his sword to the fox again, "I don't know yet. Do you remember anything before the incident that could help?"

Kurama sighed, "We were surfing; Yusuke and the others were watching, and then a pure black dolphin made us fall into the water. It dragged her down, and I followed. It pulled me all the way to the ocean floor; I was fighting with it, and then… nothing. I think I was cut on one of the rocks." He touched the untended wound on his shoulder. "Do the others know?"

"No, Yusuke would have murdered you on the spot. Luckily the band of fools have short attention-spans and didn't even miss you when you were gone."

Kurama put his head in his hands, "What did I do?" Replacing the katana in its sheath, Hiei took the ward off his Jagan again, "I sensed some energy in that cave with you; it was the same as the top of Maze Castle."

"Could there be a connection?"

"Search the cave for your answer." He said, hopping out of the second-story window. Hiei led the way back to the cliff where he trained and to the hole that led to the cave. The tide had moved in slightly, inching up the rocky shelf to the sandy floor. The sight of the red-stained sand made Kurama feel very ill. Searching in and around, they came across a familiar circle of glass-metal. "Morpheus strikes again," Kurama said solemnly and shattered the disk with his fist. He threw the broken shards into a hole where no one would step on them or find them, slipping a somewhat blunt piece into his pocket. "Hiei, could you leave me for a moment?" he said; the Jaganshi climbed out of the hole in the roof, "I'll be at the house; stay away from Gabi."

"I will," the red head sighed. When the fire yokai had gone, he transformed himself back into his yokai form, searching for traces of what happened in his memory. He smelled the sea around him, and wrinkled his nose at the scent of blood on the floor. He smelled the air for anything else but found nothing. For a moment, he found himself breathing deeply of the scent of Gabi's blood. It had been decades since he had last spilt human blood, but it was not something he could forget. "Now where have I smelled that before?" he asked himself. He jumped at the sound of fluttering wings; a bird had flown out of the cave, leaving a feather behind. He picked up the ebony feather absently, shaking his head, sending his silver hair over his shoulders; the black feather did not match any wing pattern of sea-faring birds. He pocketed the plume and left.


	10. Open Your Heart

These past few weeks, perhaps the whole month, I have come to realize that I am afraid to look in my review box. I began to wonder why this was: it was because my story had left a lot to be desired. What was to be desired? Why, background information, of course! I had planned on having many of the mysteries explained in much later chapters, but I have readers that are confused and, to my horror, displeased and unentertained. I will disclose to calm the public and ease their impatience with my muse.

When Gabe was captured at the end of the Fox Without a Vixen, did you figure out who rescued her and erased her memories? The only clue was black hair and a history of Gabe saving his body from another spirit. He is the one, who raised her a second time as a human. She is not a were-fox this time, also I would like to clarify that I never limited the use of Morpheus' mirrors to just illusions. And no, he is not some one you had to read the prequel for; he is brand new for this story. Next week, I will give you a juicy string of chapters that explains all about him.

(I love you all! X-D)

Ch 10 Open Your Heart

The days wore on, the vacation came to an end, and the newly rested teens returned to their normal lives. Gabi's back began the process of healing; the lashes disappeared, not even leaving scars, due to the combined pneumatherapy of Yukina and Genkai. She was a bit quieter than she normally was, and did not move around as much as she did; her random dancing and hopping around had nearly ceased altogether. The curly haired teen often sat; lost in thought, with her arms wrapped around herself, running her fingers over her back to make sure the marks were gone. It had been two weeks since the incident; she was walking around a mountain trail some miles away from where she lived. Something drew her into the woods.

Gabi sighed, feeling very alone in the world. "I knew you would come around here eventually," a voice said, making her jump; Genkai walked down a small path that joined the one Gabi was on. Gabi was a bit startled at her sudden presence. "What do you mean you knew?" she asked. Genkai fell in step beside the teen, "I know of your shamanism abilities, Yusuke told me, and I want to help you control them and become stronger."

"You can do that?"

Genkai chuckled, "I am one of the most renowned psychics in the world, mind you. I specialize in manipulating spirit energy, which is not too distant from shamanism."

"What can I do for you in return, Genkai?"

"Fulfill your potential, and be strong enough to defend yourself from things that can hurt you and others around you." A shadow passed over her eyes, and the girl knew what she was referring to.

"What must I do?"

* * *

Weeks passed. It was late. Gabi was walking home from a rigurose training session in the mountains, when she felt the presence of someone following her as she entered the city she lived in. "Come on out, Kurama." She said, sighing wearily. A reddish haze appeared beside her; two green eyes stared at her in the darkness of the street. "Your spirit awareness has grown sharper." He said. 

"And just what are you doing following me in the middle of the night in the streets?"

"I ought to ask what you are doing in the streets in the first place, alone even." He said, walking beside her.

"It is hardly polite to ignore someone's question and then make one of your own." She said coldly. Feeling a bit sheepish, he answered, "I happen to like walking at night; the air is calm and smells better. I followed you because I wanted to know what you were doing."

"So you planned to spy on me,"

"Not necessarily; I was going to make my presence known before you caught me early. Would you mind answering _my_ question, now?"

"I am not ready to tell yet." She wore a small smile of secrecy as she said this. He raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

"Might I ask why?"

"No." she grinned and quickened her pace.

"No?" he ran a bit to catch her.

"Yes."

"Yes?

"No!"

"Yes?"

"No, no! Not yes, no!"

"Ooooh. I'm confused."

"That's a first." She rolled her eyes and kept walking while he stood, trying to figure the whole thing out. He ran after her. "I have to ask you something!" she stopped and turned to him.

"Ask me what?"

"Do you trust me?" she searched his eyes, but he kept his thoughts hidden. "I do." He gripped her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes.

"Then follow me to a place where no one can see you or here you scream; if you do not trust me, turn and run as fast as you can."

"What are you saying!" she pulled away from him, holding up her hands to shield herself if she needed to.

"I have to tell and show you something that will probably scare the sh!t out of you. If you don't trust me when I show it to you, don't ever come near me again and try to feel safe from my secrets." Gabi looked at him strangely. She gripped his shoulder, "I don't know a lot about you Kurama, but what I do know is you have a lot you keep hidden, and I never wanted to try and pry into your business. But if its something you have to trust me with, then I can't deny you." He remained silent for several moments. At length he said, "Follow me." He led her to his house and shut the front door behind her. "If you feel afraid, please be patient with me. I won't hurt you by choice, ever, but I am the part of one of your nightmares."

"How do you know anything about my nightmares?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Because I am the cause of them." He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and showed her a shrinking wound, "Do you remember this?" he asked. She stared at the wound, "That's from the rocks at the beach." She said.

"Do you remember anyone else with a similar wound?" she wrinkled her nose and stared at the ceiling; it hit her like a slap in the face. Kurama stepped to the center of the room, his reiki flickered in a strange way, as if being let out and changed at the same time. A white mist swirled around the room, hiding his body as it changed shape. Gabi sat quietly on the couch, waiting as the smoke disappeared again. What she saw made her eyes wide with fear and shock. It was the man who had attacked her at the beach, or rather a better copy of him.

In front of her was a glowing figure dressed in unmarred white that added to his shine. His hair was long, and so silky; the light gray was indeed silver. His eyes were golden, and his face was very handsome. On top of his head were graceful animal ears, swiveling to the sounds around him. He had a shimmering tail behind him, making his over all look very exotic and almost mythical. The other version she had seen at the beach was some knock-off of his form, meant to terrorize her. She stood; her headband fell out of her hair, releasing her short curls. Her head resembled the gorgon Medusa, only less fatal and fairer.

The fox looked toward her, as if just noticing her for the first time. He raised an eyebrow, and looked at her fallen headband, a lacquered piece of brown leather with large round studs of metal; he picked it up. She chose this opportunity to run, but not out of the house, she had been in a spot where her only options were the stairs.

One of his silvery ears swiveled towards her, his lip curled in annoyance. He heard her steps patter softly upstairs and enter his room before he chose to follow.

Gabi stumbled into the dark room, glancing left and right for any means of escape: the window. She ran to it, but a leafy tendril shot out at her, wrapping around her wrist, "Sh!t!" she cursed. A small potted plant turned into a strange, strangling creature with thorns for claws on many three-fingered tentacles. The hundreds of hands latched onto her, wrapping her arms and legs up, trapping her. A thick leaf lay across her mouth to keep her from screaming. She was raised off the ground just as the silver fox calmly entered the room. "You should not have run from me." His husky timber made her shiver. "But you were wise in doing so. At one time I really was a monster." He approached her, putting her headband back into place on her head, his clawed hands grazing her jaw as he drew away again. Gabi drew away from him as much as she could. The small action seemed familiar: teary green eyes, blond waves framing a heart-shaped face, the scent of fear. A small leafy claw slowly pulled her shirt down her shoulder, exposing unmarred skin- No! What was he doing? Thinking about Marking her?

She wiggled her nose at him cutely. He chuckled, removing the leaf from her mouth. At once she shrieked; he jerked back, covering his ears and the leaf silenced her again. "I'm not going to hurt you, you know." He said. She just sat in the vines' grasp, shaking, but glaring defiantly. "The only way for you to get over your fear is to face it head on, understand? Now I'm going to release your mouth again; we can talk then, but only if you don't scream, agreed?" she slowly nodded. He removed the leaf slowly, ready to snap it back on if necessary.

Watching him as if he was a crocodile with a dollar on his nose, she slowly spoke. "Who are you?"

"My name is Youko Kurama." Her eyes widened fractionally. "Yes, the very same who attacked you that dark day," he gazed at the ground in shame, "but… I was not myself, you see." From his pocket he extracted a dull shard of glass-metal. "Do you remember Maze Castle? You may remember that mirror you found; it was what caused me to act unlike the norm-"

"I remember every thing." She said, revealing nothing in her face, but much in her voice. A pang of guilt made him want to puke. "Please," he said, "sit; you will need to before the end." He was not speaking only to her; the plant that bound her made her bend and gently set her in the chair of the desk, still holding her. He spoke for a while, looking off into space, recalling his near-death and new life, his adventures and disasters; Kurama casually flopped down on the bed across from her, folding his hands and looking at her expectantly. Gabi had listened attentively, never batting an eye. "Have you no questions?" he said at length. She licked her lip and stared out the window.

"I … I don't know what I should ask you."

"Any thing you want to know."

"Are you going to kill, hurt, or rape me?" He twitched an ear at this and laughed, "If I had wanted to do any of those things, don't you think I would have done so by now? After all, you are restrained, in my bedroom, alone, at night."

"Well of course I can't think rationally! I'm scared out of my wits!"

"Are you going to run?"

"…"

The vines uncoiled from her limbs and she sat unaided in the chair. "_Now_ are you going to run?"

"Do you want me to?"

"I had expected you to."

"I had not expected you to chase me."

He laughed sheepishly, "Touché. Forgive me, please. When I told you to run from me, I meant at _that_ moment, _not_ when I had exposed my true form to you. I didn't want you to escape with this knowledge."

"What about now?"

"Do you still wish to run?"

"I wish to turn on the lights." Youko laughed deeply and flicked the light switch. "Now I wish to talk;" she said, "why did you attack me? I really thought you were a friend."

"I was under some spell or another; it forced me to change from Suichi to Youko, (a rather poor impression I might add,) and attack you, doing and saying things I never meant."

"So when you said I wasn't…"

Youko stood up, crossed the room and pulled Gabi to her feet. He hugged her honestly; a veil of mist surrounded them both, and when it cleared, redheaded Kurama stood in his place. "You are very dear to me, Gabi. You're my friend, and I don't ever want that to change." She hugged him tightly in return, "Can you keep a secret?" she whispered.

"That depends on the context." He grinned mischievously.

"Out of all the countries I've been to, out of all the people I've met, Keiko and Yusuke are the only friends that have stuck with me. Now I've got you too, and that means so much to me."

"Glad I could help."

Hi again! I hope I portrayed Youko the right way, sexy and dangerous, but thoughtful and witty. See that little purple down there that says review? It's been very naughty; move your mouse over it and give a good mashing! You know you want to!


	11. Stranger's Trust

I'm such a horrible writer! I won't try to write suspense any more.

Ch 11 Stranger's Trust

Pink-shoed toes danced across a wooden floor. The slender pink ballet slippers _tocked_ against the floor with each leap and tap. Bright windows shined across one wall, and a series of mirrors across the other. The cold early winter sky was gray but bright. The huge room was half of the top floor; wooden floors, and furniture arranged in clusters as if walls divided the room into a studio and a den. Music played from a stereo: flirty violins and a strong piano background. Gabi couldn't walk three steps with out tripping, but did that stop her from dancing? Well, eventually her backside started to hurt…

"Pup! Phone!" a dark haired man walked in the room, tossing a cordless phone to her. She caught it, fumbled it, dropped it, and picked it up again. "Talk to me." she said.

"Yo, Gabi, Yusuke here. Change of plans, moms having some party at my place. She's more plastered than a fresco, and her weird friends are unconscious all over the place; we can't meet at my house. Shizuru won't let all five of us over since we nearly got her and Kuwabara kicked out by the landlord. We'll have to meet at Kurama's place." Gabi plopped unceremoniously on the floor, stretching her legs with one hand. "He told me he was getting his carpet shampooed. We can't be there." She said.

"Well, where can we go?"

"Well… there's always my place. We got a sweet deal on a penthouse to a really nice apartment building. Don't ask me how he pulled the strings, but Daren's the landlord while the original is away for a year or so to visit family. It's got a great view, and a hot tub, and a plasma screen TV, unlimited pool access-"

"I hate you. You sure Daren will spring for having four boys in his home with you?"

"Hang on. DAAAAREEEN!" she bellowed.

"YEEES?" he hollered back.

"CAN YUSUKE AND HIS GUY FRIENDS COME OVER FOR A WHILE?"

"I'LL HAVE TO CHAPERONE YOU IF IT'S ONLY GUYS!"

"THEY'VE BEEN MY FRIENDS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF SCHOOL, HOW DANGEROUS COULD THEY BE?"

"YOU MEAN KUWABAKA, HIEI, AND WHAT'S-HIS-NAME?"

"SUICHI!"

"YEAH, HIM; ALL RIGHT THEY CAN COME OVER BUT I'LL BE IN THE HOUSE!"

"OKAAY! Yusuke, he said its fine."

"Gah! My ears are bleeding! Why didn't you just get of your ass and walk over to talk to him!"

"I enjoy torturing you."

"Once again, I hate you." Gabi told him where she lived and planned to see him in twenty minutes. Gabi made sure there were man-munchies in the pantry and went back to her dancing. She was stretching some more when Yusuke strolled into the room. "Ever heard of knocking?" she snarled.

"Nice to see you too, sunshine. Daren answered the door while you were busy playing Swan Lake." Yusuke said, plopping onto a couch in front of the window. She flipped him off and greeted the others. "Make your selves at home, y'all, kitchen's that-a-way, TV's over n'yah." Kuwabara stared at her clothes, "What?" she was in a black leotard with white tights, blue legwarmers and a hoodie-jacket.

"…Never mind." Kurama looked away from her clothes, Hiei rolled his red eyes and perched himself on the back of the couch. "Feet off the upholstery, mister." Gabi said. Surprisingly, he obeyed and slid down to the cushions by Yusuke. The dark haired man from before walked in, "Hello pup, having a little meeting or something?" he asked. The man had black hair, dark, twinkling eyes, and a neat goatee. He wore black suit pants, and a button up long-sleeved purple shirt.

"Daren, meet the guys, guys, excluding Yusuke, meet Daren." Gabi said. Daren studied them carefully; he pointed to Kurama, "Suichi," then to the Jaganshi, "Hiei," and lastly to Kuwabara, "Kuwaba-" Gabi cleared her throat noisily. "Kazuma." He corrected himself. He nodded and walked out of the room, "Nice to meet you all; pup, I'll be in the study."

"He calls you 'pup'?" Kuwabara said lamely.

"Yeah, so what?"

"That's a rather unusual _pet_ name," Kurama quipped, biting his fist to keep from laughing. "I always thought you were a bitch." Hiei chimed in sarcastically.

"Shut up!" she snarled. "So what's the word?" she said in a softer voice.

"Pacifier-breath got a report of another disturbance. There's a territory in Makai that's giving off a lot of weird energy. The people living there are still there, unlike at Maze Castle, but they're acting weird: their yoki is jumping up and down like crazy, and they started killing travelers for no reason. " Yusuke reported, keeping his tone quiet.

"What does he want us to do?" she asked, sitting cross-legged on a large pillow. "He wants us to go investigate and eliminate the source of the disturbance."

Kurama interjected, "There is a considerably strong population of yokai; he fears there may be some civil discontentment or worse, a war."

"When do we leave on this case?"

"Tomorrow. The portal to the territory is not working; there is a disorder in the frequency of inter-dimensional travel. We'll take the portal closest to it and walk it from there."

"How far away is the nearest portal?"

"Thirty miles through uncharted forests."

"Peachy. Not to mention its fricking cold outside."

"Koenma enlisted in the help of some old friends for us." Yusuke said cheerily, "Jin, Touya, and Chu."

Daren listened intently on the other side of the apartment with his wolf hearing. The were-wolf wasn't too happy about his precious child traipsing about the Makai. The last time she had been there, his father tried to force her into marrying him.

Engraved on a leather bound book, his journal all his secrets were kept in, was an emblem with a human figure holding an arrow and a wolf with a bow in its jaws. He remembered…

Smoke, fire, screams, a burning body, his father, the promise he made, the chance the boy took, the control he had lost to him. Raden had nearly pushed his son out of his own body in an attempt to forcefully regain his golden fiancé, Gabriel. She fought with Raden and freed Arden from his soul. She went away, not knowing he was still alive. Arden watched her from the shadows, following her to ensure he would be able to repay her mercy.

She was attacked and a band of poaching goblins captured her. Arden went after her and rescued her; but he was too late to save her memories. He turned her into an infant, changed his name and raised her in the peaceful Ningenkai, ruling the kingdom his father left behind from afar.

Daren…Arden… one in the same. He knew of her powers as a shaman, he knew of her secret training with Genkai, he knew of her role as a spirit detective, and he was proud he had been able to let her grow up free and strong.

He would return her memories; one day when she was ready, and he would let her regress to her youko form, but until then, he guarded his charge like a wolf protects her cubs.


	12. Touya, Jin, and Chu

Chapter 12

Gabi sat at the bus stop with her backpack and travel-worthy clothes. Daren had accompanied her to see her off to 'band camp'. She carried a violin case in addition to her backpack. The bus pulled up and the door opened; Yusuke and company walked up beside them to get on the bus. "See you soon, pup." He ruffled her wild hair. As she stepped on the bus, he stopped the boys. "I got something I want you to know, look at me now, boys; you see that girl?" he pointed to Gabi on the bus, they nodded. "That's my whole life right there. If any of you, even you Yusuke, get any thoughts about touching, or hugging, or even talking bad to her, you just remember these words: …….I got no problem going back to prison. I will hunt you down and bring on such a world of pain, every moment of your lives will be like a waking nightmare of torture and suffering-!"

"Daren, what are you doing?" Gabi asked from the bus window, noticing her friends still at the bus stop.

"Nothing sweetheart! You run along now boys, have fun, and remember what we talked about!" he smiled cheerily.

All: (O.o);

As the boys stepped back onto the bus, Kurama looked back at Daren waving to Gabi. He seemed familiar just then… "Kurama, sit down, the bus is moving." Yusuke snapped him out of his trance. The raven head turned to Gabi, "Just out of curiosity, Gabi, has Daren ever been arrested for anything?" She shrugged, causing him to pale a bit. The bus took them into another city nearly a hundred miles away. It was 7:00 in the morning when they left, and 4:00 in the afternoon when they arrived. "Nine… whole… hours! Must pee!" Gabi jumped off the bus and ran away to find a bathroom. The Tantei stretched their legs and waited for a signal from Botan. Gabi's violin case, being only an illusion to fool Daren, disappeared.

Silently, they waited, each laden with a special pack that contained objects of many times the bag's size. Botan walked calmly past them on the sidewalk, and they wordlessly followed. She led them into a telephone booth; one after the other they entered and disappeared. They found themselves in a thick forest. The canopy blocked the sun, but a calm green light shone through the leaves. "This location is exactly thirty miles from the borders of the yokai territory." Botan said, "Jin, Touya, and Chu will arrive shortly via a portal from Reikai. They can lead you to the territory from here. Once you get there, there should be an inn travelers stay at." A small pop sounded behind her, a tall man and a short man both with blue hair stepped out of nowhere. The taller had a Mohawk, and the short kept his hair slicked back, but for his aqua bangs shielding his left eye. An unnatural blast of wind swept through them, and a red blur plowed into Yusuke. "Urameshi!" a red haired man with a horn threw several punches at him.

"Hey, Jin!" Yusuke said, blocking his attacks. Botan took her leave and flew away on her oar. The three new yokai turned their eyes to the blonde girl among them. "Oi, who's the pretty Sheila ya brought wi' cha, Yusuke?" the tall man named Chu asked. Jin flew up in her face, shaking her hand, "Hullo, name's Jin!"

**"Dia dhuit." she responded in Gaelic, grinning.**

"(Ah! One beetle recognizes another, as they say**!)" he smiled and shook her hand even harder.**

**"(I've been every where, laguage borders are no problem. A country without a language, a country without a soul!)**"

Jin laughed and turned to Yusuke, "Finally! Some one who speaks m' language! She your girlfriend or somethin' Urameshi?"

"Heck no!" he said.

"Watch your tongue, Red; I'll rip out your eyes and shove in your back pockets so you can watch me kick the crap out of you." She said, grinning coily.

"She'll do it, she's crazy!" Kuwabara said. Jin twitched his pointed ears, "**(But, a true friends eye is a good mirror!)" he said.**

**"(Many times a man's mouth broke his snose.)"**

"**(Sassy beauty,)" Her fist collided with his face. Chu roared with laughter, "Fiesty little kitten, that one!" she chased the Windmaster around Chu's legs, cursing in several different languages. The Drunken master picked them both up by their collars, "Enough of that now, lets get goin' before the sun goes down. Maybe you two can get better aquainted over a pint when we get to the inn."**

They walked through the forest, making a world of noise. Jin chattered away to Yusuke faster than he could draw a breath to form the words. Hiei stuck to walking in trees to escape the noise of Jin talking, Kuwabara whining, and Chu laughing for no apparent reason. Gabi walked somewhat behind the group, out of sight, out of mind, except for Kurama. "Daijoubu ka?" he asked softly.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, just letting my mind wander." She shook her curls tiredly.

"Where did it take you?"

"The same path over and over, as of late."

"Alright, be coy; I won't dig deeper than you want me to." He smiled, but it faded as her frown stayed. "Tell me; a heavy heart can be a greater burden than any load."

"I – there's too many people here. I'm starting to feel insecure."

"Why?"

"Don't ask me that before you look around, Kurama."

"Believe me, I know these people; rapscallions they all may be, they have good hearts, and would never try to… hurt you. Jin and Touya are ninjas who protect the weak, and Chu, being a drunkard, is not much interested in women."

"It's not them I fear," she drew her arms about her self and shivered slightly. "I have a forbidding sense there is much pain ahead."

"Oi, is that smoke ahead?" Jin said, hovering several meters off the ground to see through the trees. Kurama snapped his head towards the direction Jin was looking, "There is the scent of fire and death in the breeze."

"Lets move!" Yusuke said, and they ran through the trees, swiftly and less noisily than before. They cut through five miles of untamed country before they came to a line of ashen trees, burnt and stripped of leaves. They were at the edge of a small, dilapidated town. The skeletons of building were still smoldering, and here and there were yellow fires of some incredibly flammable fuel or another. The eight companions were silent and grim faced, picking their way through the debris. "No! Don't touch anything!" they turned to Gabi, flushed and trembling. She unsoldered her pack, socks and shoes, and set them on the ground; walking past them into the center of the town, out of sight; Jin spoke, "Wha's she doin', Urameshi?"

"Just let her do what she needs; let her do it her own way." He said, raising a hand to the rest of the group. The blonde teen stood and shuffled in a small circle, surveying the damage, the smell of death, and the heat of dieing flames. Her bare feet were pink and tender on the rough ground, soaking in grime, ash, and blood. She read the memories of the area; images drifted through her mind: men, women, children: all yokai, all of them were innocent. More images came, faster clearer: bigger yokai, stronger came through, burning, destroying, killing, raping females of all ages, devouring their dead victims, decapitating, usurping, crying, dieing, begging mercy, screaming, - she threw herself on the ground and vomited. She didn't stop until she felt the hands holding her hair back from her face. "Yusuke?"

"We heard you screaming your head off, and we came to see what happened." The raven-haired boy said.

"They're all dead," she said, wiping bile from her mouth; those images would give her nightmares for years. "All murdered by _them_. I think they came from the territory we're going to." She had just noticed the burnt or mutilated bodies around them.

Kuwabara shuddered, "All those people…"

"Dead." Hiei finished. "I scanned the whole town, no one survived; we have to find shelter elsewhere before the sunsets. Kami knows what your incessant din has attracted to our trail." The sun was just turning the western horizon red as he spoke. Feeling the somber gravity of the scenery around them, they adjusted their burdens and picked their way out of the smoldering ruins.

Wow, I suck…


	13. Makai MoonWhiskey

Chapter 13 Makai Moon-Whiskey

"So much for getting acquainted over a pint," Chu said ruefully. "Luckily, I packed a spare. Or fourty." He plopped his own pack on the ground in front of him and dug through it. They lodged in a spacious cave; though rocky, it was dry and devoid of bats and bat poo. A yellow fire crackled merrily nearer to the entrance, where they all leaned against the walls on their bags to rest. Chu pulled several red bottles that fit comfortably in his huge hand. "Makai Moon-whiskey. Technically it's a cross between beer and whiskey because it takes one moon to make." He said triumphantly, "Don't let the size fool ya', they'll knock you on your arse in a sip."

"I'll have a swig o' tha'." Jin said, raising his hand. Chu tossed him a bottle, which he caught with his raised hand. "Any other takers? I got plenty!" Chu grinned; Yusuke raised his hand and received an airborne bottle, followed by Hiei, then Touya. Jin and Yusuke spoke at the same time, "Touya?" "Hiei?" to which the ice and fire masters answered simultaneously, "Maybe it will dull my senses enough to drowned out your voice." The somber fighters glanced at each other, stared for a while, then toasted one another and drank.

"How about you, little Sheila? It might be fun t' let loose."

"I have no desire to become zonked, tidly, sizzled, spiflicated, squiffed, tanked, lushed, or intoxicated in any shape or fashion. Why are you drinking anyway? You're already more plastered than a fresco." She said tartly, stealing Yusuke's quote. He roared with laughter, "She said 'tiddly!' Wa ha ha ha!"

"Drunken whirling is his fighting style, Gabi, it throws the opponent off. I've seen it during the Dark Tournament." Kurama said, raising his hand.

"Et tu Kurama?"

"I might as well; if you don't want to get drunk, then you can keep watch." He said sipping the alcohol, the proof of which was higher than the ancient youko's age. "Ah, feel that hand-eye coordination just melt away…"

"Oi, any one who is still conscious and wants to play a drinking game, raise y' hands." Chu said reaching for another bottle of Moon-whiskey. Four hands went up: Jin, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama; Touya and Hiei had passed out because they drank theirs too fast. Gabi sat stubbornly away from them with her arms crossed.

"Okay, the rules are easy; we make up a song one line at a time. If ya words come out and we can't understand 'em, or you pass out, you lose. Jin, take it away!" (For the tune to this song, watch 'whose line is it anyway')

Jin: "OOOOH aidy-daidy daidy-daidy daidy-daidy dai! I went into a little bar-"

Yusuke: "And there I saw a man-"

Chu: "With an eye patch, and a wooden leg-"

Kurama: "And a hook instead of a hand!"

Jin: "I ask him where he came from-"

Yusuke: "I asked him 'what's your name?'"

Chu: "He said he was a sailor-"

Kurama: "Of lineage and fame!"

Jin: "I asked him how he lost his leg-"

Yusuke: "He said a shark had ate it-"

Chu: "I asked him how he lost his hand."

Kurama: "From his wrist a pirate separated."

Jin: "I asked him how he lost his eye-"

Yusuke: "Then he gave me a look-"

Chu: "A seagull crapped into his eye-"

Kurama: "The first day with his hook!"

All: "The first day with the HOOOOK!"

The four drunkards promptly drained their bottles and fell backwards unconscious. Amid her giggles, Gabi realized she was technically alone, when her comrades had built a fire for all to see and made a world of racket for the rest to hear. The fire chose this moment to snuff out in a pitiful breeze, spreading the scent of humans into the forest. A wolf howl cut through the night air; life just got better and better. She jumped up and pulled her shepherd's crook out of her bag. Her jeans, mountain boots and tank top gave her little protection against any kind of attack, unlike the sturdy tweeds and thick leather of her shaman garb.

A pair of green pinpoints lit up like Christmas lights. If she had not just gone at the bus stop, she would have peed her pants. "Filthy humans in our cave!" an animalistic voice made her shiver. The pair of eyes came closer, followed by others. Gabi tied a small stone to the handle of her staff; it cast an eerie blue light up to a few yards away. There were eight wolves of monstrous size. She drew a shaky breath, "Please, do not harm us; we did not know this cave belonged to anyone. We were going to stay at the inn in the village but it was attacked and destroyed."

The leading wolf slowly approached her, smelling her with his huge muzzle, standing seven feet tall. "You are human, but some of your companions are not. What are you doing here in the forest?"

"We were sent to investigate the yokai territory that was killing travelers."

"Koenma's bitches, eh?"

"I am no one's bitch! I'm a shaman!" she snarled. The pack laughed roughly. "Calm down, little pup." The lead wolf laughed. "You and your pack can stay in our cave for the night, but just for tonight. When tomorrow comes, you must leave. Ever since the yokai in the next territory over started acting strange and killing every one, we have been short of a source of food. We all are a bit… famished."

"I'll be gone before the sun comes up, eh heh heh. But I can't say the same for my friends; they're drunk on Makai moon-whiskey."

"Ah, the draught of the bold-but-stupid."

"I hardly know half of them, don't try to make any connection between me and them!"

"Calm yourself, little pup; come, sleep with us tonight and we can protect you. But first you must drag your friends to one side; they stink of sweat and liquor."

The morning came cold and bright; not the best combination with a hang over. Yusuke sat up; his head swam. He looked around the cave, trying to see past the huge grayish-lumps beside him. His vision cleared and he felt his heart skip a beat. Huge wolves surrounded him. They lay between him and his comrades and the exit of the cave. The closest person to him was Kuwabara. He shook him awake, "Huh? Wha-" Yusuke covered his mouth and put a finger to his lips signaling silence. Kuwabara's eyes became very wide as he looked around him. "Lets wake the others and get out of here." Kuwabara nodded in agreement. They woke Kurama next; he wrinkled his nose at the bright sunlight, feeling a headache coming on. He picked up the scent of other animals and sat bolt upright, which didn't help his headache. Yusuke gestured to him and they looked for another of their friends among the sleeping giants.

Kurama waved his hand frantically, pointing towards the biggest of the animals. The lead wolf was sleeping with his head on one paw, and Gabi between his front legs, next to his head, leaning on his other paw. His warm breath and thick fur had kept her warm, while the others, drunk off their asses, had not brought out a blanket or anything. They approached the wolf as quietly as they could; Yusuke reached out to wake Gabi when a deep thundering rumble shook his bones. The wolf was perfectly awake.

"Please, Mr. Wolf, don't eat us! We just want to get our friend and get out of here."

"Let the pup sleep, human, she's been up late dragging your stinking carcasses around." The wolf said, raising his huge head to look the detective in the eye.

"She… let you in here?" Yusuke asked, quivering.

"This is _our_ cave, human; I let _you_ in here!" Kurama stepped in between them. "This is all just a misunderstanding," he said peacefully. "If you wish for us to leave, we will swiftly exit, but we cannot leave our companion behind."

"She will stay as long as she may. You all are sent by the Reikai prince, yes?"

"That is correct."

"Then I want you all to be a rested as possible to solve the strange problem in the valley. The well-being of my pack depends on it." Kurama bowed respectfully, "We'll do our best, mister…" The wolf gave a wry chuckle to himself.

"We animals do not carry with us any label. You humans name each other because you forget who you are. We only choose names when dealing with other races."

"Ah." The others began to wake up, Chu first, followed by Jin and Touya and Hiei. Each had to be held down with a hand over their mouths to keep from screaming or doing harm to their 'hosts'. "We should leave now, the sun is up and time is of the essence." Hiei said, standing on a rock above the wolves and his cowering companions. The lead wolf nudged Gabi, "Wake up pup, your friends are leaving." He said. She rolled over covering her eyes, "Five more minutes."

_SHLUP!_

_"BLUH-EH!"_ he had licked the side of her head with his huge tongue, slicking her hair straight up. "WTH is wrong with you!"

He laughed his wolf laugh. "That is how we wake our young! Now go, you and your friends have work to do." She stomped angrily out of the cave, muttering about dog spit. As the others followed suit and went down the trail, Gabi stopped and turned back to he wolf, "You know, my foster father calls me pup, too."

"Does he now?"

"Yes. Small world, huh? Thanks for letting us stay the night."

"You shall be welcomed in our lands anytime, young shaman. But… you would do well to leave your friends behind when intoxicated."


	14. The Four Servants

Chapter 14

Four Servants

The yokai territory was deep in a valley that was once rich and green, but now was black and barren. Even the bright morning sun was cold and gray through clouds of foreboding. The trees clung to their brown leaves, rattling in the chilly breezes. As the Tantei and company began their slow, timid descent into the valley, they were silent and grim.

The first sign of any life at all in the village came lumbering up the path. The tall, thick-bodied trolls stomped up the path. Their clothes were in disrepair and covered in grime and questionable stains that had to be blood. They attacked by swinging their huge fists at them. Hiei's katana rang against their flesh, which was hard as rock. Yusuke fired a shot to the closest ogre's stomach, forcing him back a few feet; the distance was small compared to his height of ten feet. In a flash of flowers, the huge yokai fell to the ground with vines and flowers growing out of cankers in his skin. Kurama stood behind the fallen foe with death-plant seeds in his hands. "As roots will expand and destroy concrete so shall my plants destroy you blundering boulders." he said.

Six there were; though they were destroyed quickly, their damage was not small. The first twelve inches of Hiei's katana broke off; Jin had a bloodied nose and a broken wrist from trying repeatedly to punch one of the towering yokai; Kuwabara had bruised ribs yet remained standing; and Gabi's left arm was fractured. "How are we going to handle the _rest_ of the yokai that live here?" Kuwabara wheezed.

"One at a time," Hiei said, sheathing the veteran blade, "They're all slaves. Some bigger force is brainwashing them." His Jagan glowed from behind his white headband.

"Lets find the source then," Gabi said staring again down the path. Kurama stopped her, "You can't go on, you are injured, and these foes are greater than you can handle."

She gave a wry smile, "I've had worse. And besides, you have no idea as to what I can and cannot do. This may be the time I show my true colors."

"We must see to the wounded first." Kurama had been given the first-aid kit; a colossal white trunk with a red cross on the lid, containing every thing from band-aids to shock-paddles. (What are those called?) While they had stopped in the woods to bandage their injuries, Gabi, with her arm in a sling, had girt herself with her chain of stones, and her rei-guns. Kuwabara, Jin and Gabi were seen to and they continued. They stuck to the cover of the trees and walked alongside the path two or three yards to their left. The small territory consisted of a few smaller dwellings in a rural area outside of the main city, a mass of stones that resembled a ruined castle. They slipped into the city, wondering why security was so loose, and hid in an uninhabited room. Hiei tried to locate the source of the bizarre energy controlling the people, but it seemed omniscient.

"How can we take down the bad guys if we don't know where they are?" Kuwabara mused in a quiet tone, not really as stupid as most think he is.

"The head honchos hang out in the highest most centered place, just like in government buildings and video games." Yusuke said. "Find a way up and sooner or later we come to the brains of the operation."

"Lets split up, there are more of us here than normal, so we can cover a lot more ground." Kurama said, "Do the communication mirrors still work?" Yusuke pulled four out of his bag. "Jin and Touya, you are already partners, so you go together. Yusuke, you go with Kuwabara; Hiei and I will go together. Gabi, that leaves you with Chu. He can fight if worse befalls you and you can't defend yourself with a broken arm."

"No worries Sheila, you can count on ol' Chu t' protect ya!" the Drunken Fighter said, messing up her curls with his huge hand.

"Like you did last night," she said adjusting the sling on her left arm.

"Heh, yeah, that…" The Tantei and company separated and went in different directions. The halls of the castle were more maze-like than the primitive construction looked. Touya, Jin, Yusuke, and Kuwabara were led up and up, while Kurama, Hiei, Chu and Gabi were led down and down. They kept going, rather than back track to reach the higher levels where, as Yusuke hypothesized, the 'boss' would be.

Chu and Gabi found themselves in a long corridor. There were rooms on either walls with no doors, and the stench of death poured out of them. "Is this a dungeon?" Chu pondered aloud wrinkling his nose is disgust. Gabi restrained her gag reflex, "No, dungeons have doors. I think these rooms were used for healing; look inside: the beds are lined up like a hospital, and there is the faint smell of herbs used in medicines."

Chu looked into the rooms; in the beds were yokai like the ones they had fought. Their bodies were emaciated and colorless. "All these blokes 'ave croaked. How come no one moved the bodies? They look like they've been stiffed for about a day." Gabi held her breath and entered the room; she looked at the charts at the foot of each bed, they all were written in a text she could not read, but the patterns of the letters were all the same on each chart. She picked one up and handed it to Chu, "Can you read this text?" he nodded and looked at the clipboard; his eyes skimmed over it before they went wide as saucers. He dropped the clipboard, snatched the smaller girl up and bolted out of the room. "Damn! We shouldn't have come down this way, Sheila!" he cursed.

"What? What's wrong? What did it say?"

"Never mind that now, we got a job to do." he said. 'I hope the others don't run into rooms like that,' he thought to himself.

Hiei and Kurama found the dungeons of the castle; all were conveniently empty. "The walls are covered with dust; no has been kept in here for some time." Kurama noted. "So they'd rather kill each other than be put in time-out. Big-deal," Hiei scoffed. Kurama flipped open the communication mirror and called the others. The circular screen divided into three sections, each showing a view of Yusuke, Touya, and Gabi. "How goes the search so far? Hiei and I found the dungeon, but there are no prisoners at all."

"There is a hospital in here," Gabi said, "but all the patients are dead and seemed to have died of the same cause."

"Nothing up here but a library the size of a baseball field." Yusuke said.

"Jin and I have traveled up to the top of the castle; there are no signs of any one here at-"

_Crash_! Touya's screen went blank. "Every one get to the top floor! Jin and Touya may have encountered enemies!" Kurama said and closed the mirror. The two former bandits dashed at break-neck speed to the stairs that had led them down and went to the stairs that went up. Chu and Gabi came behind them as fast as they could. They met up with Yusuke, Kuwabara, Jin and Touya battling it out with an infantry of troll-people. Gabi unloaded a clip and felled fifteen, her mark never missing. She aimed to wound, not kill. The yokai suddenly stopped and ran away.

The eight companions perused them and were led to a large, circular room with an incredibly high domed ceiling. The foes had disappeared completely. "Where'd they go?" Yusuke growled, clenching and unclenching his fists. Four figures jumped down from the rafters of the ceiling. Three of them were male, the fourth female. The males had pale skin of a slate blue color, short dark hair and eyes, and were dressed in long robes and boots of cool dark colors. The female was completely different: her clothes were all black, leather pants, leather boots, a baby-t with a fish net shirt over that. Her hair was black and tied back in a bun, her make-up was black, her talon-like nails were black, and her eyes were a burning yellow. A pair of black bird wings protruded from her shoulders to compete her devilish look. "Who are you clowns?" Yusuke barked across the room.

The male dressed in greens stepped forwards, "We are the four servants of our master, and the reason you have been sent by Koenma. I am Icelus, this is Phobetor, Phantasus, and Ká." He gestured to the man in gray, the man in purple, and the woman in black.

"Why the hell do you freaks want to control the people of this area?"

"Our reasons are our own, and our masters." Phobetor said, crossing his arms. "But I suppose we could at least tell you who our master is. I believe you know his name: Oneiros Morpheus."

"You four are the ones who brainwashed these people!" Kurama said. 'And me.' He added silently.

"Brainwashed? Don't slander the power of our master. They are living in a different world, where they are obligated to be obedient, a world in each of their heads. They can escape anytime they choose to, they are not 'brainwashed.'"

"So they're living in a dream world; a world of lies." Hiei said, narrowing his eyes.

"To them it is paradise. No worries, no cares. They are taken care of, and in exchange they do the master's bidding."

"Slavery with a smile is still slavery." Gabi said.

"As I have said before, they are _not_ enslaved; they _have_ the _freedom_ to leave, they just don't know how. We will not mince words with you any longer. Ká," he motioned to the black clad harpy. She stepped forward and brandished her nails like weapons. Kurama bristled, thinking of the black feather he had found in the cave at the beach. "Ká is the master's pet raven, he turns her into a human or another animal now and then so she can do his bidding; for now her task is to kill you." Yusuke rose to her challenge and came toward her. "Urameshi! You can't fight a girl!" Kuwabara yelled.

"Shut up, Kuwabara!" the detective snarled over his shoulder. He charged the ebony fighter. She flew out of his way, zipping up to the ceiling. Yusuke readied himself to run as she power-dived him. The air sang around her wings; Yusuke threw himself to the floor, but her talons caught the back of his neck. He pressed his palm to the four stinging cuts. "Yeow!" She swooped around and landed on her feet, running towards him. She was surprisingly fast and limber for wearing boots and leather pants. Her attacks were lightning fast; Yusuke was almost over whelmed. He aimed his index finger at her chest, preparing his reigun. She flew out of the way at the last minute, circling him like a vulture, dodging his shots. "Hold still, Tweety!" he muttered angrily.

"Urameshi! Tag me in!" Jin called, "You ain't got a chance with her flying like tha'!" Yusuke ran back to the group and slapped Jin's hand, "Go, super-elf!" he said. Jin took off like a rocket and slammed Ká into the far wall with a punch. A strangled cry like the shriek of a bird came from her lips, being unable to make human speech. Jin wasted no time, meeting her punches and kicks with his own. The others became distracted as the floor became water, and they were treading in chilly brine.

"Where did all this water come from!" Yusuke sputtered.

"Did I ever mention I'm not a very good swimmer?" Kuwabara said, treading clumsily.

"It's just like riding a bike, once you learn how, you never forget; start pedaling and swim!"

Chu, being monstrously tall, was only up to his neck and still touching the floor. He looked around for the source of the water, having heard no sound of a pump or hatch opening. He saw one of the three men, Phantasus standing on one of several stones that seemed to come out of nowhere. He moved his fingers, sifting through glowing purple threads that streamed from his hands and faded into nothing in the air around him. 'He's weavin' all this outta nothing!' he thought, 'that must be his power. I wonder what the other two blokes can do… hey look, a shark-' "Frogs on a spit! The water's full of sharks!" he cried; blade-like gray shapes sliced through the surface of the water. Icelus and Phobetor were busy weaving strands of their reiki, each in their respective colors. Phantasus supplied the water and stones; Icelus wove the sharks and Phobetor created a cloud of small dark birds with razor talons and hooked beaks.

"Climb the rocks, baka!" Hiei shouted, scrambling out of the water that was far too wet for a fire youkai's liking. Between the hundreds of teeth of a shark and the flesh-rending feet of the birds, he chose birds. Yusuke and Kurama clung to a tall pointy rock; Touya was able to freeze a small glacier and climb on top of that; Kuwabara, Chu and Hiei fit snuggly on a low rock, a little too close to the water for comfort; Gabi drifted in the center of the room, nowhere near any rocks. She floated helplessly in the water, watching the telltale dorsal fin come closer to her. Hiei cringed for a moment, then dove into the water, floundered for a bit, and then splashed over to the victimized girl. He drew his broken katana, ripped the bandage off his arm, and prepared to attack, forgetting he needed his arms to swim and sunk like a stone. The yokai clung to the closest thing to him, Gabi. She clung to him in return, touching the burning tattoo on his arm; being the medium she was, the Dragon released.

The water, the sharks, the rocks, and the four servants of Morpheus were swallowed up in the darkness and light the Dragon gave off. A deafening roar filled the air; Jin stopped his fight long enough to grab a hold of Chu, who grabbed Touya, who grabbed Yusuke, who grabbed Kuwabara, who grabbed Kurama, who watched two of his friends left behind. The castle caved in, then exploded in a glorious star of brilliant flames and tongues of raw energy, flinging huge stones and fragments of walls hundreds of feet into the air. Jin flew up as fast as he could with his chain of friends like the tail of a kite. He was hit a few times by smaller stones, but no more injured than he already was. Having a broken wrist and nose put him at a tactical disadvantage in his fight with the raven-woman.

Jin set the human-chain down roughly a kilometer away from the wreckage of the castle. They caught their breath and tried to piece together why exactly the building had been reduced to gravel. Upon counting each other, they discovered Hiei and Gabi were missing. They divided up into two parties, Jin, Kurama, and Yusuke in one, and the others stayed behind. Jin flew back to the site, in the same manner in which he left; carrying his friends like a chain.

The ruins were horrendous; bodies were strewn in and across the wreckage. Some had been dead for a while, some were new, some were still alive, relatively unharmed due to their tough skin. The towering yokai stood up, shaking their heads, wondering what the hell had happened and why their heads hurt. Kurama searched for Hiei's familiar scent, while Yusuke felt for Gabi's memorable reiki. Nearer to the center of the mountain of rubble, a ki signature flared angrily. Kurama scampered up the pile and dug feverishly through the stones. Yusuke joined him, while Jin blew away some of the larger pieces.

They came across a rather broad piece of stone; as soon as most of it was uncovered, it was heaved up from underneath by a black-swathed foot. From the way the stones had fallen, Gabi and Hiei were nearly completely submerged in a pool of water from the top of the tower. Hiei jumped out, relatively unharmed but for a few deep, nasty gashes across his arms and chest caused by the broken rock fragments. Gabi was trapped with a rather sharp, heavy stone on top of her ankle. She was unconscious, and sported a burn on her right hand from touching the Dragon. The four removed her from the wreckage (and the wreckage from her), and set her on flatter ground.

She woke with a jerk, crying out. Her arm had come out of its splint, and the fracture was misaligned. Yusuke took her right arm in his hands, not touching her burn. "Well, you sure gave us a scare, Miss temper-tantrum," he said.

"Yusuke? Where- Hiei, what was that … thing that came out of you?"

"That was the Dragon of the Darkness flame. How were you able to release it?"

"You're just a human, or is there something you have not been telling us?" Kurama asked suspiciously.

"Its because I'm…I'm a shaman, a tetsujin." She said, trying to block out the pain of her physical injuries. Hiei 'hmphed'.

"I don't believe it."

"Yusuke, could you lift me up?" the detective gently pulled her to a sit; she outstretched her good arm towards Hiei, glowing with reiki. Particles of light separated from her aura and peppered then gashes in Hiei's skin, healing them completely. He touched the skin in disbelief, "You _are_ a tetsujin,"

"Yes, and healing is a bit more difficult to do than my other traits. Nighty-night." Fade to black.


	15. Familiar's Betrayal

This story has certainly taken a strange twist; the four servants are not dead, and they will be seen in the futrue, but for now, I have to try my hand at getting Kurama and Gabi back together.

Chapter 14

Familiar's Betrayal

The mission was over. The Tantei was shocked, save Yusuke. Hiei was furious, Kurama was slightly irked, and Kuwabara had forgotten she was a shaman in the first place. "Deceitful little snake. Does Koenma know she's a demon-slayer or did he put her on the team to kill us all?" the koorime growled, gripping his katana hilt.

"She may have had her reasons, Hiei. Just like you and I have our reasons for not telling certain people certain things." Kurama said, sitting at his desk talking to Hiei, who was comfortable in the maple near his window.

"So you're saying she is ashamed of herself. Feh,"

"She didn't want to scare you guys away or anything," Yusuke protested from his seat on Kurama's bed, "she knew she wouldn't be so readily accepted, least of all among two yokai."

"If I didn't know any better Hiei, I'd swear you were intimidated- no, afraid of her." Kurama said, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't make me rip out your precious voice box, kitsune." Hiei said quietly in his danger-voice.

"Well, she's part of this team weather you like it or not, Hiei. I just hope Daren doesn't find out; he'd have a rhino…"

"What happened to her? She won't be able to hide those injuries from him." Kurama turned slightly in his seat.

"He had to leave to another city for a couple days, so she's all alone at her place. Genkai or Yukina could heal her, we just haven't gotten the chance to go there yet." Yusuke glanced at his watch, "Time for school; see ya later, Hiei."

"Hn,"

The two students walked silently to school, weaving through the streets and crowds of people. Yusuke went off to his own class, while Kurama went to his. The redhead reached the end of an empty hallway and saw Gabi, trying to limp down the corridor. Her left arm was in a brace, and her right hand and ankle was bound. "You ought to be at home, resting," he chided. She turned quickly, "Why are you following me? I thought by now you would have started an anti-fan club for me. Achoo!" she sneezed.

"Your being a _tetsujin_ has not changed our friendship in any way. Though I am a bit insulted you did not tell me your secret when I had told you mine." He smiled and held her arm to support her bad leg.

"Ow! I don't want any help, Kurama! I have to heal on my own." She tried to pull away from him but failed to break his soft iron-clasp.

"You cannot heal if you do not rest, tetsujin."

"Baka kitsune, let me go! Achoo!" she sneezed again as he swept her up to carry her bridal-style. "I'm… going… to kill you!" she hissed. Kurama paid her no attention, walking down the hall to her first period class. Several girls glared at her enviously. He carried her into her room and put her in a desk, sitting next to her, as they shared the same second period. "That wasn't so unpleasant, now was it?" he grinned boyishly.

"I…hate…you!" Through out the class period, she remained under the fox's watch, drawing colorful chibis of him dieing in different and equally gruesome ways in plain view. When they bell rang, he made a move to pick her up again; she swiped at him using her pencil as a dagger, "Don't touch me!"

"How will you ever get to your next period class on time?"

"I can afford to be tardy- damn it! I said don't touch me!" ignoring her, he carried her from class to class, disregarding her punches with her good arm and colorful, multi-lingual curses. At lunch they sat together with Yusuke and Kuwabara on the grass in the courtyard. Gabi kept slapping Kurama's hands every time he tried to pick something up for her, "I don't need any fricking help! Lemme alone!" Kurama seemed to enjoy embarrasing her, and making her angry.

Yusuke whispered something to Kuwabara, who in turn whispered something back and they both erupted in discreet snickers. Kurama, having been able to hear their gossiping, raised an eyebrow. "And what if I am Yusuke?" he said, with a look of superiority.

"What? What if you what? _Achoo_!" Gabi sneezed, putting her lunch away. Kurama shook his head, "Nothing, these two were merely questioning weather you and I were an item."

"WHAT!"

"Well, you _are _letting Kurama carry you around like a damsel in distress," Yusuke pointed out.

"All the girls are looking at you with jealousy," Kuwabara added, making a smoochy-face. Gabi's face turned as red as her cranberry blazer, she was burning up; she tackled the carrot top, sitting in his bruised ribs, trying to stab him with her plastic fork. Yusuke and Kurama tried to stop her, but some how all three of them ended up with slap-marks on their cheeks and painful lumps on their heads. Gabi set down her rock-of-death and gathered her things. She leaned against the trunk of a tree to stand up, but poor Kurama just couldn't take 'no' for an answer, and tried to help her.

"TOUCH ME AND I WILL _SQUASH_ YOU!" she roared, blasting him back on his butt. Her cheeks were red with anger and physical strain. She held her lunch bag gingerly with her burnt hand, and steadied her heavy book-bag with her broken arm, walking slow stiff steps on her twisted ankle as if she had no injury, but was stuck on slow-motion. "What crawled up her ass and laid eggs?" Yusuke muttered, rubbing the lump on the crown of his head.

Gabi entered the school building, breathing slow shuddering breaths. 'Maybe I should see the nurse, I feel a little woozy,' she thought to herself. The nurse's office was on the next floor down, underground. She took one look at the stairs in front of her and wavered. 'Should the steps be moving like that? I don't remember the rail having a snake's head…' she withdrew her hand from the reptilian banister. The overhead lights suddenly became the wall in front of her as the floor attacked her from behind. As Gabi fell backwards, a pair of pink sleeves caught her.


	16. Doctor Kurama

Chapter 15

Doctor Kurama

Her head was spinning; laying on her back, the flourescent lights were blinding her. She heard voices around her but could not see who; she didn't even have the strength to move her arms, much less her ehad.

"I have her, Koenma!"

"Ogres, get her on a stretcher!"

Gabi felt four arms lift her from Botan's grasp and lay her down on a bed.

"How long has she been like this, Botan?"

"She's been infected since the day they were in the castle, according to Chu."

Several cursewords were heard before the second voice continued, "She's immune to treatement now. If I had been able to find her with my viewscreen…. But she made me promise never to do that. We'll just have to hope for the best and pray she pulls through."

Yusuke tapped his foot at his desk, unable to concentrate on his work. The seat next to him, Gabi's chair, was empty. He knew she was not in good condition to start with, and he feared she had gotten worse and been unable to get back to class. It was almost time to go home and he had seen neither hide nor hair of her since lunch. He twiddled his thumbs to keep from looking at his watch again. The bell rang to go home and he shot out of the room and down the hall. He accidentally tripped himself and other people on his way to Kurama's last period class. The redhead had not even lifted his backpack to his shoulder when Yusuke plowed into him. "Have you seen Gabi yet?" he asked. Kurama shook his head as Kuwabara knocked Yusuke down. "You guys see Gabi yet? She didn't come back from lunch." The carrot top said, dodging a smack in the head from Yusuke. They exited the school and began walking along the street together.

The detective pulled out the communication mirror, set it to audio-only, and held it to his ear disguised as a cell phone. Botan's voice sounded in the earpiece after a few rings, "Hello?"

"Botan! Where is Gabi?"

"She's here in Reikai, in the palace hospital."

"Why? What's wrong with her?"

"She caught a bug in Makai, and she's being taken care of here."

"What kind of bug? How bad is it that she has to be taken to Reikai."

"…"

"Botan!" his tone became testy.

"It's difficult to say, Yusuke; Gabi is a ningen with a yokai disease."

"Make a portal; we'll be right there." Yusuke slammed the mirror shut and stuffed it into his pocket.

"What's the word?" Kuwabara asked, checking his pace to match Yusuke's increasing speed.

"Gabi's sick; she's in a Reikai hospital. C'mon!" he broke into a run and headed for the park. The others followed and they came to shining portal just to the left on the other side of the entrance. It was inconspicuous and out of the way, releasing energy so they could find it. One by one they dove through and examined their surroundings.

Botan was standing in front of the three young men; wringing her hands in her pink kimono. The circular portal behind them vanished and the ferry girl led them to a room with a large window on one wall to see in through. Though the lights were dimmed, they could easily make out the shapes of a bed and the blonde lying in it. Circular electrodes were stuck to her face and neck with wires leading away and hooked up to a machine that tracked her heart rate. The green line on the monitor bounced rhythmically, drawing jagged shapes that faded again. They watched her sleep silently until Kurama spoke.

"What is her condition?"

"The healers say she is stable now, but the road ahead will be rough. She has the Makai Malaise." His eyes became saucers as he stared at her in shock.

"You can't be serious!" Botan nodded sadly, "Its true."

Kurama eyed the door; Botan saw this and added, "She's reached the point-of-no-return; she's contagious. You'll have to be vaccinated and wait twenty-four hours before you can go in with her. The servants, healers, Koenma, and myself have been immunized years ago."

"And what exactly does this do? Is it like the chicken pox? Will she get covered in little red dots?" Kuwabara asked.

"Not quite. It causes delirious fever and hallucinations. If the fever won't kill her, her own nightmares might scare her to death.."

"…What are the odds she will survive this?" Kurama asked, turning back to his blonde friend in slumber. Botan sighed, closing her eyes. "Not at all what they should be. In her weakened physical state, her body is trying to heal itself _and_ fight off the disease, not to mention the hospital is short of space and man-power due to an epidemic."

Yusuke turned away from the window after watching his friends speak, "Well, we have to help her in some way! We owe her a lot since she saved our butts by accidentally releasing the Dragon."

"Plus, we were giving her a hard time at lunch today." Kuwabara said and stared at his shoes sheepishly.

"There's practically nothing we can do right now Yusuke." Botan said sadly, turning away.

"I will take her." The three companions turned to the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Kuwabara, Botan and Yusuke gaped at the towering form of Youko Kurama.

"You?" Botan managed to force out one word of question. Youko nodded, "I am a practiced healer to rival any doctor here; and in this form, I am immune to this sickness. I live alone, so no one else is at risk to it; I can give her the care she needs that cannot be spared for her here. There is no reason why I could not care for her my self."

Yusuke eyed the fox warily, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes," and he added quietly to himself, "I owe her that much." He recalled again the day at the beach in the cave, mentally shivering in shame; though she had forgiven him, he still felt awkward about it.. The tiny ruler of Reikai popped up, hovering in midair in front of the resident kitsune.

"I know what you plan to do, Kurama; and there are two flaws to your plan you might want to take care of. I fully support your reasons for doing this and I'd like to help as much as I can."

"Every little bit helps, Koenma."

"The first flaw is that you cannot stay in this form forever. You will have to change back into Suichi to maintain your ningen life, and you need a vaccination to do that without catching the Malaise a second time."

"Easily remedied. And the second flaw?" he crossed his arms expectantly.

"The Ningenkai winter holidays are days away, and no doubt your human mother or others may wish to visit, as well as Gabi's guardian wishing to know where she is."

"What do you suggest we do?"

"For starters, wards can be placed up around your home to keep the environment sterile so no after effects may spread to any others who visit you in the future. As for giving your mother and Gabi's foster father an excuse, I cannot help you formulate a believable tale."

"Don't worry about that part. Being part of the Tantei has made me a good enough liar." He said, turning back to the window, putting is palm on the glass. 'I'll take good care of you, Gabi,' he vowed silently, 'I swear.'

Gabi woke from her nap to see a silver youko sitting next to her bed. "Youko?" she blinked. "Ohayo, hime," he answered, "Do you know where you are?"

"…a room?" she looked like a five year old.

"A hospital; you are very sick."

"Koenma said that; what kind of cold do I have? Do you know?"

"Its very serious; the Makai Malaise." She sat up with some difficulty and leaned over the rail on the bed to whisper, "Am I going to _die_?" for the first time in hundreds of years, he wanted to squirm under another person's gaze. He couldn't tell her the truth and say, 'yes you will most likeley die here.' He couldn't bring himself to lie to her either, so he settled for shaking his head.

"You have to be looked after with professional care, though. Koenma and I have discussed this and we see it as two choices; to stay here in Reikai, or to return to Ningenkai."

"I think I should go back to Ningenkai,"

"Know that if you go back to Ningenkai, you would have to lodge with me. I can take care of you better than they can here, but if you're not comfortable with that, I completely understand."

She held her blanket up to her chest and stared at her knees in thought. "Will the others be able to come and see me?"

"After a period of twenty-four hours, yes, they can come see you."

"Well, what are we waiting for, Christmas? Achoo!" she sneezed into her blanket, "Bless me." Youko plucked the electrodes from her face and turned off the machinary connected to it. "Close your eyes now." He said, helping her stand from the bed, "you may feel very weak and incredibly dizzy, so don't look around." She was still wearing her school uniform. She ended up falling on the floor anyway. He picked her up and carried her to a portal Botan had placed within the room. They paused as Yusuke and Kuwabara waved from the window. Gabi smiled and flashed a thumbs up, relaxing a bit. Youko stepped through and was in his own home. The portal faded and Gabi peeked one eye open. "This room, it looks familiar." She mused.

"It should, its my room."

"Oh, I see, it just turned upside down for a moment. Ack! There it goes again! If I had a pair of 3-D glasses on, I'd be one step away from being stoned."

"What?"

"Dónde está la marmalada?" she said with very wide eyes and dialated pupils. "Ay, me duele la cabeza; zorro, ayuda me por favor!" she whimpered, holding her head in pain.

"You need rest before you try something stupid in addition to talking nonsense." He muttered, flattening his ears against his skull.

"Pog mo hoín, todd!"

"Stay here, I will make a tea that will help you to sleep; its better if you sleep rather than be awake with this illness." He walked out of the room and left her sitting on the bed. Alone.

Twenty four hours later…

Yusuke walked casualy down the street with his hands in his pockets as usual. He was on hs way to help Kurama if he needed it. The familiar house appeared and he turned onto the walk. A thorny branch shot out from the bushes lining the walk and scratched his ankle deeply. "OW! Hey, I'm here by Kurama's request!" the tendril recoiled and Yusuke opened the unlocked front door.

"Youko? Is everything…?" Yusuke noticed the girl clinging to the support beam in the ceiling like a squirrel, "okay?"

"FRUIT OF THE EARTH!" Gabi cried, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Youko was balanced on the back of the couch, trying to reach her; he fell when Yusuke opened the door.

"Gabi! Get down from there!" Yusuke said.

"No! The kitty will get me!"

"Kitty? What the…? Youko, change back into Suichi; Gabi doesn't remember meeting you." he closed the door and walked under the support beam.

"It hasn't been twenty four hours yet, I can't change without risking infection!"

"Kitty!" Gabi wailed and fell from the beam.

"Gabi!"

"Youko!"

"Yusuke!"

"KITTY!" Youko caught her; she shrieked and scrambled away, hiding behind the curtains, even though they did not reach past the windowsill.

"Yusuke, please help me restrain her!" Youko said, "I can't catch her, and my plants won't go anywhere near her!"

"You grab her hands, I can get her feet… wasn't she hiding behind the curtains just a minute ago?" he gestured to the open window; a breeze blew in, making the curtain flutter in a telltale way. "Oh shit…"

WAH! a strange turn of events indeed. I'm not updating again until i get at least twenty reviewes.I need some feedback in order to determine what needs to be fixed or left alone; however, i won't read flames. there's a warning on the sumary, 'Don't like it don't read it!'


	17. Do I Know You?

HAH! I lied! I didn't expect 20 reviews because not many like OCs, so I shot for twice as much as I really wanted! Just to clear up any misconception; I should have gone over this part more, Gabriel caught the disease from all the infected bodies she and Chu found in the castle's hospital. I got such a positive reaction to Gabi's fever-induced sillyness, that I wrote an extra chunk of nonsense just for you fun-lovers. I hope it may force you to laugh your posteriors off in a most enjoyable way.

Chapter 17

Do I Know You?

Gabi walked out into the cool evening, enjoying the cool breeze. The trees and street signs were dancing the glittering traffic lights; she skipped in her slippers down the cross walk, not waiting for the little red man in the light to tell her it was safe to walk. Cars and trucks skidded to a halt, some crashing into one another. They honked their horns angrily at her; Gabi waved cheerfully and giggled, going on her merry way.

The park was not far away from Kurama's house and she went in the chain link fence, holding her arms straight out beside her and imitating an airplane. She ran down the sidewalk, but in her mind she was flying. She stopped when she heard the sound of thousands of voices calling out to her from tiny flowers and plants. She uttered a long string of nonsensical syllables, and dropped to her knees, caressing the little flora. "What's that you say? This is a magical world inside an hourglass? Whimsical peonies!" she kicked off her slippers when the plants told her they would keep an eye on them for her.

"Doot doo doot doo, doot doo doot doo." She danced through the trees in a waltz that resembled the Macarena. "Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena

Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegria y cosa buena

Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena

Ehhhh, Macarena!" stricking a pose, the grass applauded, screaming for an encore. "Thank you, and now, the fight scene!" at that moment, an unlucky squirrel, out after his bedtime, scampered by her foot. Seizing him by his tail, she twirled him around and slung him around her self like Bruce Lee with a pair of nunchucks. Her grip began to slip on his poor tail and he flew head long into a crepe myrtle; the delicate, ruffling white flower petals rained down on her. "Hey, its snow! But its not cold… it must be dandruff. Hey, use some Pantele pro-6, Mr. Tree; it'll clear that problem right up!"

"'Ey!" a group of stoned teenage boys wandered by her, "Are you talking to Mr. Tree?" one of the three males asked her. She nodded; he glared at the tree as he spoke to her, "Don't listen to anything that bastard says! He's a liar and he stole my girlfriend!"

She turned back to the tree, "I trusted you!" she cried, and as she turned away she stubbed her toe on a hard metal object. Picking it up, she made out the shape of a discarded horse shoe from a game of toss. "The crown of king Arthur!" she said, tears coming to her eyes. Leaping on top of a bench, she spread her arms to address the 'audience' like Mark Anthony, "Friends! Rodents! Quadrapeds! Lend me your ears! It has befallen me this day, the legendary coronet of the Round Table, that I should take it up as my own and rule the forest…" she turned her eyes to the 'crown' with a lust for power, "not as a girl, but as a queen! Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Trecherous as the sea! All shall love me and despair!"

The stoned followers bowed down in front of her in a worshipping position, "Praise the queen, man!" Gabi stepped from her perch and stood before her humbled subjects. "Arise," she said to the first, "and be known now as lord Rowsby Woof; my royal endochronologist."

Rising, he saluted her with his foot, which was missing a shoe. "I shall serve you well, dude." He swore solemly. Going to the next person, she said, "Stand, and you shall be the Duke of Hazard, my personal jar-opener!" He stood and put his big toe up his nose, "Yes, my liege!"

Knighting the last of the three, she said, "Awaken as Captain Crunchy-Trouble! Head of the royal army of albino black sheep!" He arose, only to bend over and throw up on his shoes. The three boys raised their smoldering blunts in tribute, "Hail the bitch with the horse shoe on her head!"

"Like, what is your bidding, dude?" lord Rowsby Woof asked. Stroking her chin with one hand, she said, "Fetch me… a waffle… shaped like… a sphere!"

Holding up his blunt like a sword, he said, "Muskateers, our country calls us-hey, dammit, that's mine!" The captain had seized Rowsby Woof's cigarette and darted off with it. Rowsby woof turned to the duke, "Don't just stand there, help me!"

"Um, who are you?" the duke said, dazed.

"Ah, fuck you!" Rowsby woof said, dissapointed at his companions wastedness.

"Hey, buddy are you lookin' for trouble?"

"Yeah, that bastard ran off with my weed!"

"Oh, uh, then lets go catch him!" they began to depart, but slipped in the captain's forgotten puddle of vomit and knocked themselves out.

Gabi, having forgotten her followers when distracted by a butterfly, skipped merrily through the trees, tripping over her own feet now and again. It started to drizzle; the tiny droplets hit her skin, tickling her. "B-bugs! BUGS! Get'em off, get'em off!" she squealed and ran around a tree, slapping her arms and legs. She tore of her pajamas and her 'crown' and ran across the park, screaming bloody murder in a light undershirt and strawberry-print boxers over her undies. She dove into a wishing fountain, thrashing and shrieking. Noticing the shiny coins on the bottom, she forgot her trauma and started to play again. The underwater lighting gave a pleasant effect on the glittery money.

She splashed and played to her hearts content in the fountain, giggling and singing. Someone cleared their throat behind her. She turned and gasped, a dark-haired man stood there. She jumped out of the water and backed away. His face was one she would never forget, "You…" she pointed, "You're the werewolf! Raden!"

"Who?" Yusuke asked, scratching his head. Gabi backed away from him, "I killed you; your spirit was discarded!" she whimpered. Youko appeared behind Yusuke, holding the bundle of her pajamas and slippers. "Gabi, there you are!" he scolded her.

"Youko! Raden is back!" she pointed, backing away. Youko dropped the bundle; his jaw hung slack for a moment and his eyes nearly split his head in half they were open so wide. He found his voice again in a whisper, "What… did you… just say?"

"Its Raden! Standing in front of you! He must have found another body after I purged Arden of his spirit!" she cried, as if he was missing some sort of cue. Yusuke looked back and forth between them, "Uh, isn't Raden that thunder god from Mortal Kombat? Gabi, is something wrong?" he took a step towards her.

"Stay away from me, you lecherous werewolf!" she screamed, running in terror into the trees.

"Gabi, wait!" he started to chase after her, and skidded to a halt to look back at the fox, "What are you standing there for? Come on!" Youko shook himself and bounded after her, calling to Yusuke over his shoulder, "Stay there! She's having delusions!"

"What?"

"Trust me, Yusuke," Youko followed the girl across the park, through the bushes and the trees. "Gabi, please stop!" he called to her. Wearily, she halted and sank to her knees; sweat and rain bathed her skin. The fox held her steady by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Tell me, what is your name?" he asked firmly, but gently.

"Gabriel Púrenard," she mumbled tiredly. It came as a shock when he realized he never knew Gabi's full name, and that he did not recognize her face; maybe it was her short haircut. In the rain, she looked almost magical, dusted with glittering drops of water, her curls dripping with water in a deeper shade of gold than before, and her cheeks were flushed against her ivory skin.

"Do you remember who I am?"

"Youko… my spouse and teacher. I'm so glad to see you, koi." She said and kissed him. The fox burned a brighter shade of red than her. 'I don't know how,' he thought, 'but I have found my Gabe again. All along she was in this girl's body.' His heart swelled with joy and he kissed her back, purring softly.

A small smile spread across his face as his golden eyes welled with joyous tears,"I've missed you for such a long time."

"Youko, where is Koronue?" she asked, turning her head slightly from side to side.

"He… passed on…Gabriel? Gabriel!" she had gone slack in his arms and shook violently. This was the critical stage. He cursed himself for letting her escape and run around in the rain, ignorant to the pain of her injuries, sustaining a blinding fever, and emotional stress of her past memories. A thought hit him like lightning, he would most likely lose her. In his grief, he held her closer, making a mewling sound and fell back into Suichi's body. The redhead picked her up and ran as fast as he could, forgetting Yusuke.


	18. Nostalgia Does not Suit You

I'm finally back! Please forgive me, loving reviewers! There was this and that and I had to study really hard to pass, and then my best friend had her baby and there was Christmas, and my birthday, and dad got me a new laptop, (SQUEEEE!) and I had so much trouble with the wireless internet connection and stuff and things and whatever and I got this new thingy that fixed it and AAAAH! I'll be a better author this time! Please don't review me to say, "its about time!" or something; that would break my heart to have being a flaky dunderhead rubbed in my face. I love you all, and its good to be back!

Chapter 18

Nostalgia Does Not Suit You

Kurama knew where to go and what to do. "Hiei," he called out to the trees; a smaller figure in black made himself visible to the streaming green eyes. "Hiei, I desperately need your swiftness!"

"What for?" the youkai leapt from the trees above to the ground, his eyes wandered over the girl in his arms.

"She's dieing! Please, take her to Genkai, I'm not fast enough."

"Help that deceitful tetsujin?" he sniffed in scorn, turning the droplets of rain around him into steam.

"Hiei, please…" his voice cracked, tears continued to pour down his pale face, "I love her… if I lose her…"

"Fine; stop your blubbering!" he snapped and took the girl from him. "I'm doing this for _you_, not _her_, got it?" Kurama nodded and Hiei disappeared, creating a slight vacuum around him.

A pounding on her front door jerked Genkai awake. Grumbling, she put on her house robe and stomped over to the front door. She was surprised to find Hiei, dripping wet, holding the blonde, and scowling. "Kurama said to bring the little witch here." He snorted, rudely depositing her body on the floor. In a flash of lightning, he vanished.

Kneeling, the old woman felt the girls searing forehead and quickly carried her inside. She woke Yukina, and together, they lowered her temperature, saving her life. The last stage of the sickness had come and gone.

The sun rose again on the mountain temple, clearing the darker clouds from the gray sky. Kurama sat in a chair next to Gabi's bed, watching her sleep. From the color of her cheeks, he knew her fever was gone, and she had curled up on her side, showing peaceful slumber, but she had not moved from that position all night. Genkai entered with a cup of tea for him, "Why didn't you tell me she was sick?" the old woman asked quietly.

"I thought I could take care of her. I wanted to be there for her." He rasped and sipped the tea to refresh his voice. "I took my eyes off of her for one second, and she disappeared. I should never have even let her out of bed." He brushed his tangled bangs out of his face as he looked up at Genkai.

"There are a lot of things we wish we could have done in the past; but if she had not been out, she would have never revealed who she was…a youko."

Kurama's eyes widened marginally, "How-?"

"You're easier to read than a billboard. I knew you liked her ever since the beach house, so I asked Koenma to let me do a little digging. He knows as well as I now what and who she was. Haven't you ever wondered why Koenma never got around to giving her a shaman's license? It's because she has it in her blood. Non-blood shamans have to do the paper work."

"Will Koenma give her memories back?" he asked hopefully.

Genkai shook her head, "She lost them naturally. She has to remember on her own, if at all. He can't interfere; it's Reikai law. Only her dreams can know."

"Then I've truly lost her," he sighed sadly. "She was my mate, Genkai, as a youko…"

"Idiot." She snorted and rapped him on the head, "haven't you ever seen 'the Notebook'? Or 'Fifty First Dates'? _You_ have to help her remember, baka." She turned and exited the room, scoffing, "if there's anything I hate worse than a quitter, it's a bonehead like you who's too scared to even help himself. Cheer up, nostalgia doesn't suit you."

Kurama rubbed his scalp delicately, the old woman was far from feeble, or even gentle; but she had given him hope. The object of his affection stirred and gave a groan. Rising into a state of half-consciousness, she felt his reiki and identified him. "Kurama…" she muttered softly, rubbing her forehead.

"I'm here," he said taking her hand in his. "Are you all right?" For several seconds she didn't answer him, appearing to be asleep again, but then she spoke, "Why am I in bed?"

"You don't remember? You were very ill and almost died of fever."

"I _remember_ being angry at _you_," she mumbled hotly, opening her eyes to glare at him.

He frowned, "You don't remember being sick?"

"No," she said and closed her eyes in sleep again. Kurama's heart wrenched again; he felt hopeless to ever recover his wife. "But, I had a dream," she continued, making his ears prick up, "that may have been me being sick, but you were there, as Youko; I … knew you, like someone very close to me, from a very long time ago… I don't understand it, how it could have been, and there was someone there I knew… he was scary… and…" he realized she had fallen back to sleep, breathing evenly, her hand clamped to his. Kurama sighed with relief and fell asleep leaning on her bed, sitting on the floor. Youko took over from there; the silver fox put his paws on the bed and leapt up next to her, curling his numerous tails around her and himself and slept. (I just had to do that, I love his fox form.)

Yusuke rudely awakened Kurama several hours later, he threw a heavy backpack on him, "You stood me up, you jerk!" and stomped out. The redhead became himself again and lifted the satchel off of the bed; he noticed the close proximity with Gabi and scooted off the bed with a blush. She awoke and sat up, "Good morning, world! Man, I feel good; not even my arm or my ankle hurts!" she chirped, rubbing the place were her cast was.

Kurama, who was too busy trying to get his blood out of his cheeks, sat silently on the floor. "Hey, some'm wrong, Kurama?" she leaned over the side of the bed and reached out to him; she stopped when he turned his head away from her, "It's nothing, just a little stiff I guess. " he lied, "today is Wednesday, school has been let out for the holidays." He quickly changed the subject and opened the incredibly heavy backpack. Inside was the make-up for both Gabi and Kurama. With their work cut out for them, they hastily parted ways to complete the work before their teachers decided to give them each a failing grade. Gabi made it home and Daren never knew she was missed; Shiori visited her son and they spent Christmas together. The holidays came and passed.

It was the first of January before any of the detectives even spoke to each other again. Gabi was walking alone in the park, bundled in a long coat, hat and scarf. She didn't know why she was wandering around in the dead of winter at ten o' clock at night, but she was rewarded with the sudden company the red headed spirit fox. "Hey," she said softy, not even turning around as he walked up behind her. "Hey," he replied, standing beside her. They both stared into the distance, silent, still, breathing soft clouds through their scarves.

She started to walk forward on the sidewalk, and he followed. "Listen," she started awkwardly. "I never thanked you, you know, for taking care of me; even if I don't remember it."

"It was nothing," he said quietly.

"But… there is one thing I have to know; in my dream… or whatever that was, we-er- kissed. Did I-uh…?" she knitted her eyebrows worriedly and looked at him from the corner of her eye. Blushing, Kurama nodded. "You did."

"Eh-right. I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be," he sighed, and did a mental double take, "I mean, its okay." He stopped and grabbed her shoulder, "Look, we can't go on like this," he said. The blonde raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"If we kept doing this, my heart is going to burst out my chest and break." The redhead openly wept; Gabi held his head with her mitten-clad palms.

"Kurama, what's wrong? What is it?"

"You, you're my mate."

R&R!


	19. Nostalgia Does Not Suit You pt 2

Updating a little faster now... still wary about the quality

Nostalgia does no suit you pt. 2

"You, you're my mate." The blonde wrapped her arms around his neck, stroking his head. "Kurama," she whispered, "you aren't making sense. Tell me."

"You! It's you!" he sobbed bitterly. "You don't remember me, and I'm so confused! Gabriel, speak to me!"

"Kurama," she pulled away enough to wipe his ruddy cheeks with her mitten. "I don't understand." Collecting himself, he stepped away from her as Ningenkai melted away subtly, and looked into the gray sky through the bare branches of the forest of Reikai. "I suppose I should bring you home," said the husky voice of Youko, "follow me."

Aware of her surroundings and suddenly afraid, Gabi followed the youko through the woods to his old home. "This is where I used to live, with you and Koronue," he said. The forest around them was very close, almost menacing. "I planted many things here that would keep others away, and destroy those that got too close." Gabi shivered. "Speaking of which, come away from that ivy."

"What?" a leafy tendril had been delicately wrapping around her ankle, and at Youko's warning slithered all the way up her leg. He made a move to stop the plant when a separate plant grabbed him with thorny branches. She was pulled to the ground by several other vines and dragged into a monstrous flower bud. "Kurama!" she cried. It enveloped her in its petals, which were lined with thousands of small, sharp thorns that served as teeth. The petals shifted around her, shredding her clothes and cutting into her skin. She struggled to move, but the flower began to secrete a fluid that worked its way into her cuts and paralyzed her. She suddenly felt very sleepy…

Youko ripped away from the thorny branches, his ki flaring angrily at it; the plant shrunk away sheepishly. The Pink-maw ivy was not so respectful; he summoned his rose whip and severed the blossom from the stem. Several more flowers stood up from the tangle of vines to challenge him. Youko snatched Gabi up from the ground and moved like Indiana Jones; using his whip, he swung into a tree to safety. Unable to reach him, the ivy went back to its first beguiling form, mere forest ivy.

Hanging from his whip, he shook the blonde in his arm, trying to wake her. Her head fell against him and she groaned; her skin covered with tiny scratches. He turned his whip back into a rose and returned it under his hair; landing on a lower branch, he helped the blonde to stand.

He jumped down from the tree, a full thirty feet. Gabi climbed down proudly, not wanting to break her neck. He snatched her hand up like a child that had wandered away from him, "Stay close to me this time."

She followed him silently before adding a faint, "I'm sorry."

He stopped, and chuckled good-naturedly, still facing ahead, "There is nothing to forgive." He continued to lead her through the woods, holding her hand to keep her close.

"This is it." He said; they had stopped in front of a small hill on which a collection of small trees grew. Cut into the hill was an entrance, having long since lost its door.

The blonde peered through a subterranean entrance to an underground lair. Weeds threaded into the floor near the entrance. The musk of stale air wafted into her face. It was dark, cold, and frightening; she strode in first.

Familiarity compelled her to enter the forsaken haunt, why, she didn't know. She reached the bottom of the steps near the entrance and stopped, watching an image play in her mind. From a door across the hall, a girl ran out, dressed in green, with a banner of blonde hair. Youko came out next, followed by another stranger with bat wings; only he didn't seem so strange. "Koronue," she whispered as she watched her waking dream play on.

She walked a bit farther, watching snatches of people flicker around her. She knew Youko well enough, and this bat chimera seemed to be related to him somehow. The green-clad girl snuck up behind Koronue wearing his hat and carrying his scythes. He caught her playfully and turned her away after retaking his things. She turned and walked away from Koronue, toward Gabi. The image of the girl looked up at her. Her face reflected back at her.

"Me, that's me…" She said in a shaky whisper. The images faded as Gabriel's mind whirled; new things were emerging in her brain, things, places and people she had known from somewhere; a dream? Another life? She ran farther and descended a handful of staircases to the lowest level. It was still there; a huge, decrepit bed frame, under which, she had fled and first came to trust Youko. She shook her head furiously, slapping her cheeks; 'How is this possible! Can it be? I remember it now; I lived here with two thieves from Makai. I married Youko and… I wasn't even human.' She rubbed her ears, making sure they weren't actually furry. 'Its all a lie, it has to be a trick. I read the memories of the building; they weren't mine! Youko is just trying to trick me!'

She felt a hand on her shoulder; Gabriel jerked away, "No!" Youko stepped back, slightly surprised. "No! I won't change into this, I'm human, damn it! You don't have any right to make me do this!" the blonde wrapped her arms around herself for protection. The spirit fox looked like she had just slapped him, "Gabe," he said, reaching out to her again. She swatted his hand away. "No! My name is not Gabe! It's Gabi! Get away from me!" she shrieked and ran past him.

"Wait!" he called after her, she disappeared from the old haunt, leaving him behind. A single tear trailed down his cheek, "koi."

Gabriel found her way back to Ningenkai on her own, walking out of the Reikai woods and back into the park. She ran and ran until she was at her house; she stopped, sweating heavily, leaning her forehead on the door. Her hair was matted down with perspiration and stray leaves, and her clothes were smudged with dirt from tripping occasionally. Sadly, Yukina was not present to heal her scraped knees. What would Daren say?

She opened the door to her home and went to the bathroom to take a bath. Her muddy clothes were deposited in the laundry hamper as she slid into the warm, steamy bathtub. She was cold and stiff, as well as grouchy and confused. Gabriel tried to empty her mind and meditate, like Genkai had taught her; speaking of which, her training with the old woman would start again soon.

The blonde drew a breath and submerged herself in the water. Why would Youko lie to her? It was almost a believable lie, too… and how could he get the image of the girl to reflect her face exactly? The pieces all fit together perfectly except for one thing, how did she end up here? If she really was Kurama's long lost mate, how did she end up a foster child traveling the world and becoming a Tantei? She blew a string of little bubbles out of her mouth, watching with blurred vision. Where was Daren? He should have been home to scold her when she walked in the door. She saw a little hamster running in a scamper wheel in her head. Gabriel sat up, shaking her drenched head, "His journal. If he knew anything, it would be there."


	20. Secrets of the Journal

Kind of lame, but it rounds everything off nicely.

Secrets of the Journal

Gabriel, having finished her bath, tiptoed into the forbidden room belonging to her foster father. She was never allowed in his room, or to touch his personal possessions. He was not present in the room, or the rest of the apartment. She walked around his queen-sized bed, donned with black and maroon sheets. Only the pillow on the left side showed any signs of use at all; though he was a handsome man, he did not entertain or date, he was truly a lone wolf. His furniture was also black wood and dark tapestries covered the walls. He was not dark, only mysterious as his personal decor dictated. She sat down at his desk and quickly poked around the files on his computer; finding nothing that was unordinary she continued searching elsewhere.

The contents of his desk, his dresser and his closet; she unearthed them all and found nothing. Running her hands through her damp hair, she sat on the edge of his bed and groaned. Could he have gotten rid of it after all these years? She had seen him write it from time to time, so carefully and discreetly, it seemed very important; any answer he needed, he would always look it up in his journal. What intrigued her most about the worn little composition of leather was the cover, the design of a human and a wolf had always seemed familiar to her. But where was it!

Gabriel flopped back to lie on his pillow; her brain raced and she felt underneath the pillow. Nothing; it was too predictable for him to have hidden it there. Unless… she reached underneath the pillow that was never used on the right side of the bed and pulled out the coveted book. She squealed and sat up.

The journal flipped open of its own will and the writing inside began to glow. With a shriek, she dropped it on the floor and scooted back on the bed. A sharp wind flowed from the flipping pages, and with it, sparks of light. Before she could reach for a talisman or other catalysts of exorcism, a calm light settled on the pages and a familiar voice filled the room; it was the voice of Daren, speaking from the pages of the journal.

_My dearest Gabriel, you are a clever one to have found this journal after all this time. I must say that I am very proud to have raised you. If you are reading this, or should I say listening, then you are seeking answers to very important questions._

While the voice paused to go to the next paragraph, she crept closer and picked the book up.

_I know you must feel very afraid and confused; I predicted you would be when you found my journal; you must remain calm and pay close attention to my words. All of them are true, but very secret. I will start at the beginning-_

A knock at the door made her jump and slam the book closed. She frantically stuffed the book back underneath the pillow and dashed out of the room to answer the door. She opened the door as wide as the chain lock would allow. It was Kurama. She said nothing. He said nothing. Both of their faces were emotionless. She looked behind her to see the digital clock in the kitchen; the large red letters read 2:30 am. She closed the door and undid the lock. Opening the door all the way, she gestured for him to come in. She led him to the kitchen and opened the fridge, retrieving a soda for herself and for Kurama. She was pissed off at him, but she would be damned before she was a bad hostess.

"I knew you would still be awake, that's why I came over so late." He began, rolling the cold drink between his palms.

"You seem to know a lot about me." She said coldly and took a sip of her drink.

He laughed wryly, "On my way here, I thought to myself, 'We have to talk,' but… where do I begin?"

"You can start at the beginning. If you really believe me to be someone else, someone you knew, how did you know it was me in the first place."

"You share the same name, and the same face."

"There could be thousands of Gabriel Púrenards roaming the earth. And don't you think your memory of her could have gotten fuzzy after twenty years as a human?" she snapped.

"You also have her scent; correct me if I'm wrong, you also take psychology, but scent is the strongest sense tied to memory."

"So what? Maybe you were just smelling the scent of a human?"

"You really don't want to be her, do you?"

She slammed her can down on the table and stood up, "Damn it Kurama! I'm _not_ her! It's not that the thought of being your wife isn't appealing, it's that it can't possibly be true! How, if I am she, did I end up here? How did I go from being a spirit fox, forty years ago, and be a twenty-year-old human now! The numbers don't add up!"

Kurama, struggling to contain himself, answered calmly, "There is always a way. I was a spirit fox for _three hundred _years, and turned into a human for the last two decades."

"And just how were you able to retain your memories? I don't have any recollection of that past. As far as I know, I just read the memories left behind in that old place. I'm a shaman, remember?"

"I'm not sure on that part. My Youko side is sure convinced; perhaps you have amnesia."

"Amnesia is incredibly rare, and that does not explain why I'm human now." She sighed and leaned against the doorframe to the kitchen.

Kurama was silent for a few minutes, sipping his drink thoughtfully. "Tetsujins are also capable of shape shifting, are they not?"

"Kurama," she groaned, "I don't want to hurt you." She sat down again, "I also don't want to live a lie."

"Just humor me with one last theory, and I will never speak of this again." He said desperately. Gabi blew out another sigh and nodded. "If you would please, show me your left shoulder."

"Why?"

"I marked her there. If you are her, it should still be there."

Gabriel pulled her shirt down on her left shoulder, revealing smooth, unmarred skin. At first it shocked him, then it came as no surprise. He had seen her bare shoulders at the beach, and again when he showed her his youko form. 'No…how could both Genkai and Koenma be wrong! But…facts don't change.' He tried to swallow, but his throat had swelled up in sadness. He gave a nod of dismissal and she pulled her shirt back up. He stood and walked out of the kitchen to the front door. Gabriel followed him, stopping him before he reached the doorknob. "I'm sorry," she whispered. He nodded, turning, "I want you to have this," he said and gave her a green bundle, "I gave it to her a long time ago; I know now you are someone completely different, but I hope we can part ways in peace."

"Part ways…"

Kurama nodded, "I don't think we should ever see each other again; I would be haunted by your face, your name, and your spirit." Stricken with grief, she wrapped her arms around him, "I'll miss you, Kurama." She said into his shoulder.

He found his mouth pressed against hers, with his hand tangled in her sweet, damp hair. His mouth worked against hers, in tempo with the beating of their hearts. Her hands worked out a knot in his neck, relieving stress and pent up anxiety. His other hand pressed the small of her back, melding her against him when he stopped and pulled away. They found no words to say to each other, only sad expressions. He walked backwards out her door, savoring his last look at her, her hair hanging over her eyes, her fist to her lips, and her cheeks ruddy.

"Good-bye."


	21. Secrets of the Journal pt 2

Chapter 21

Secrets of the Journal pt. 2

Gabriel returned to Daren's room and sat on his bed, replaying her last moments with her friend… no, something more. She unfolded the bundle; it was a green tunic with leggings and a semi-transparent outer tunic. They were obviously cared for lovingly; they smelled clean and fresh, and the colors had not faded. Shaking her head to dismiss her thoughts, she refolded the clothes and set them aside. She brought out the journal again to continue where she left off. She now saw the pages clearly; covered with many different kinds of writing. There were spells in every page written with the swirling designs of golden, black, and red ink

The lights and the wind repeated themselves and the speech started where she stopped it.

_I will start at the beginning; my real name is Arden. I am the only son of Raden, a full-blooded were-wolf. I myself have only half the blood of a were-wolf. I am an illegitimate son, but the only living heir to his throne. _

_You, my child are a special being, a rare creature of beauty and grace. A long time ago, my father was searching for the perfect bride to rule his land with, when he heard of a legendary breed of youko, a golden youko. _

_He sought this vixen and paid a hefty sum for her, as she was captive, internally and externally. She was trapped in a human body so that she may live safely in Ningenkai. Her parents were killed, and so they could not rescue her from Ningenkai and change her back. My father planned to turn her into a were-fox and keep her in a weaker form so she would pose no threat to him._

_Two great thieves of Makai came to her rescue; a fox named Kurama, and a bat named Koronue. They succeeded in saving her from her fate, with the help of a servant that befriended the vixen, and slain my father._

_The vixen regained her youko form and grew in strength; but her troubles with my family were not over. I was a fool when I was younger; I went to my father as he lay dieing on the floor and gave him help. His spirit shared my body, and he took complete control. He attacked and kidnapped Kurama and Koronue, trying to blackmail the vixen into marrying him. Raden failed and his soul was torn out my body, freeing me._

_A short while later, Kurama took the vixen to an annual gathering of youkos and proposed to her, madly in love with her. They became mates and marked each other in the manner of youkai. But little did they know, they would be separated the very next day by attacking poachers. The golden vixen was captured and suffered a great injury that made her forget her memories._

_I, who had watched this vixen from the shadows after she freed me, rescued her from a bloody death. I used sorcery, which ran in my family, to change the vixen into an infant human. I erased all traces of her former life, including the mark her mate Kurama had given her, and raised her as my foster child. By now you should have guessed that the golden youko is you, Gabriel._

_You must realize who and what you are, a spirit fox and a powerful medium. I, of course, brought you up strong and free, as you should be. I have juggled raising you and ruling my far off land for many years. You must understand, my dearest Gabriel, I kept the truth from you to protect you; even though I am a powerful sorcerer, you are a valuable and rare breed. Now, you are strong enough to take care of yourself and take on your shaman responsibilities._

She slammed the book closed, unable to keep her tears from flowing. She bit her fist and chocked back a sob. What had she done? Gabriel wept until the sun rose and another visitor came to pass.

The sound of glass shattering alerted her of intruders. Wiping her face on her sleeve, she ran to see who it was. To her surprise, Botan was standing amid a pile of broken glass. She had flown through the window and crashed into the couch in her hurry. "Gabi, there's trouble!"

"Botan, what's wrong?"

"The whole world is in a crock, entire territories are being enslaved by an unknown force." Botan said, mounting her oar again.

"What? How is this possible?"

"I don't know; Reikai headquarters is losing control over the lives of mortals. The natural emanation of energy has been tampered with and the worlds are out of order! Koenma has summoned you all together; c'mon!" she gestured for the blonde to follow her. Gabriel started towards her, and then skidded to a halt on the wood floors, "Hold on," she said, "I have to get some things!"

"Hurry! We're losing time!" Gabriel reemerged dressed in the green tunic Kurama had given her, armed with her rei-guns, carrying her crook, and the journal. Botan raised an eyebrow at her garb, but said nothing as the blonde hopped on the back of her oar. "Lets go."


	22. Horn and Ivory

Okay, here's some mythology 101 for ya. There's a lot of reference to this stuff but it doesn't go into it enough to really explain it all. I put together some things you need to know in order to understand what's taking place here.

In Greek myth, there's a god of dreams named Morpheus. He is the son of Hypnos, the god of sleep, and the Grace know as Aglia, or brightness. It makes sense because dreams are basically light while you sleep. Morpheus had a thousand other brothers and sisters with black wings; they were called the Oneiros, and had no names and looked like children. (I thought up Ká all by myself and didn't learn what the lesser of Morpheus' siblings looked like until later. Creepy.) They handled the dreams of common people. There were also three brothers of real power; Morpheus, able to change into any person and adapt their mannerisms; Phantasus, able to transform into inanimate objects; and Icelus, also known as Phobetor, who could transform into any animal. (I chose to split Icelus into two people so there would be more people for the Tantei to fight individually. The Gate of Horn and the Gate of Ivory are places were dreams come from; the Gate of Horn is were dreams of truth come from, and the Ivory Gate is were false dreams come from. The Brothers of the Night get their power from these gates. As for the rods that will be mentioned for the gates in this chapter, they are a work of my own and they control the gates.

Enough of my blathering; enjoy!

Chapter 22

Horn and Ivory

The Reikai prince shuffled through the papers on his desk. Reports were literally pouring in from all over Makai and half of Reikai. His normally present hat was on the floor, buried under mountains of paperwork. The palace was in frenzy as ogres rushed to and fro, shouting to each other and carry yet more stacks of papers. The stacks were so high in their arms they could not see over the tops, and the only thing keeping them from crashing into each other was the deeply integrated system of organization and transportation.

The telltale shimmering of a circle in the wall alerted the prince of company; Yusuke and Kuwabara leapt into the room and ran up to Koenma's desk. "We're here, Koenma," Yusuke announced.

"Where are Kurama and the shrimp?" Kuwabara asked. A sharp blow to his cranium answered for him. Hiei stood triumphantly over Kuwabara on a stack of folders. Kurama revealed himself by clearing his throat dramatically. Yusuke jumped and looked over his shoulder at the redhead. "You okay, man?" Yusuke asked; Kurama's hair was uncharacteristically limp, in much the same way, as an animal would lower its ears when saddened. In addition, his green eyes were tired and reddened. "I'm fine," was his reply.

Yusuke didn't buy it for a second, but there were more important matters at hand. Koenma looked up from his paperwork, signaling for all of the ogres to leave, "Where's Botan and Gabi?" he asked from behind his pacifier. The doors to his office swished open and said women ran in. "We're here, Koenma sir," Botan said, vanishing her oar. Gabriel slowed to a walk as she passed Kurama, their gazes averted away from each other.

"Nice dress, Tinkerbell," Yusuke joked; Kuwabara joined him in snickering. She hooked his neck into her crook and drove is face into the ground. Darkness shadowing her eyes, she silently challenged Kuwabara to say something. He held up his hands, withdrawing his offense. Koenma cleared his throat, "As you may have gathered by the accumulation of reports, the balance between the worlds is once again out of sync. We're losing all contact with the spirits of the living, as if they were all dead, but if that were so, we would still have access, as they would come here. Their minds are completely cut off from us. The spirits of every living thing in the worlds are out of order and out of control! The stars are burning, the sun is fading, rain is flooding the desert, fire is erupting in tundra, the ocean is falling back and gathering in unnatural places-"

"What's causing this?" Kurama asked.

"I don't have any idea; we're also getting huge readings on excess dream waves. Evilness and goodness are tearing the universe apart."

"Darkening dreams is the work of that Morpheus," Yusuke said, "We already beat him once, how is he still able to work his stuff on people?"

"May I remind you that we only beat the people who work for him?" Gabriel put in.

Koenma nodded, "They were just pawns, and he could have an infinite number of pawns."

"Koenma sir," George yelled, bursting through the door. Koenma fixed a glare on the blue ogre, "I told all of the servants to stay out of here, ogre!" George shrank slightly under his gaze as he stepped forward to present information.

"This is an emergency, sir! The Rods have been reported missing! The Gates of Horn and Ivory are empty."

"WHAT!" the princeling roared, causing several stacks of papers to blow away. Botan and Gabriel gasped.

"The Gates are _real_!" the blonde squeaked in fear.

"Hold on, what're you guys talking about?" Yusuke asked, scratching his head.

"The Gates of Horn and Ivory; both part of Greek mythology, as is the god of dreams, Morpheus. He and his brothers Icelus, or Phobetor and Phantasus, derive their powers from these gates." The blonde recited.

"Wait, wait, wait," Kuwabara said, "I thought the guy we're up against was Morpheus, and Oneiros was his first name."

"It is!" Hiei snarled impatiently. "And that's just some stupid name he probably thought up to make himself look clever, dimwit."

"Maybe Daren has something about it in here," Gabriel mused, setting the journal down on Koenma's desk. Koenma glanced down at the crest on the cover, "Gabi," he said in a voice only she could hear, "where did you get-"

"I know who I am Koenma; exactly who I thought I wasn't. Daren left this for me, and it told me everything." She whispered back, and opened it. Another blast of wind sent papers scattering and Daren's voice drew their attention.

_There is a growing danger not far off; I know of your role as a spirit detective and I allowed you to go into numerous dangers with only the help your friends. I know of your battles with the illusions of the water youkai, Oneiros Morpheus. If you are to believe anything I am telling you, then of all these unbelievable tales, you must know he is extremely powerful in both the world of dreams and reality, and he can control people as they sleep, trapping their minds in the world of dreams. There is a way to break free of him, but I do not yet know what it is. You must take care to shield your thoughts from him as you sleep._

_I tell you these things through my journal because I have gone myself to help in your quest. I go to seek the Rods of Horn and Ivory. The four servants of Morpheus have stolen them from their respective gates. _

_With these rods, he can control every living person through their dreams, and they will _never _truly wake up again unless we stop him. I have gone to find the rods and return them before the Night becomes eternal; I do not expect to return, but to buy you time so that you may save the world of dreams from darkened hands before he decides to do something horrible, like destroy the Gates. Farewell my beloved pup, and be careful._

Koenma sat silently at his desk, weighing the dangers on his mind, "You are all in terrible danger," he said quietly, drawing the attention of the Tantei. "If Morpheus has the Rods, he can control people as soon as they fall asleep, and they will never be able to escape. You remember how Icelus said the people that were under control could escape if they wanted to? Well that would be pretty much impossible now."

"What do we do?" Yusuke asked.

"Find him, retrieve the Rods, and return them to their respective Gates." Using the buttons on his desk, the tiny ruler turned on his view screen and projected the image of two keys. They were shaped like old-fashioned keys, with identical edges; on the handles were a pair of decorative wings made of black metal. The feathers on one side arched up, while the other side arched down. "These are the keys to the Gates, crafted many millennia ago from the masts of the Argos and Andromeda; and I don't mean the actual ships, I mean the stars themselves. The shafts are made of pure albino elephant's ivory, and the horn of a ram with Golden Fleece. It's very easy to confuse these. So pay attention!" he pressed another button and two more images appeared on the screen. These were of wrought iron gates standing on rocky peaks; they seemed not to lead anywhere. "The two Gates they belong to are located on two different mountain tops in Ningenkai. Both are appropriately located in Greece.

"Again, we have lost control of the portals so the closest I can bring you to the locations is roughly five miles away. Your communication mirrors can be equipped with tracking devices to help you find what you're looking for based on the concentration of dream waves. Also, I would like to offer you this," he had George reveal a solid gold coffee maker encrusted with diamonds.

"Elton John's coffee pot?" Yusuke joked.

"Very funny," the princeling continued, "this is where I get my coffee from. I want you each to take a small thermos of this coffee. It is _incredibly_ potent, ten times the stimulant of any drug in Ningenkai, but a touch bitter. I don't want to take the chance of any of you falling asleep and falling under the control of dreams, especially since the air is filled with the Sandman's magic. Should you, and I recommend you do, choose to drink it don't plan on sleeping for seven days. If one of you falls asleep, it will wake you up again in a snap. Since none of you have built up a tolerance to it, you should find more than enough energy from drinking it." Koenma produced five small, blue thermoses with shoulder straps from his desk drawer and filled each one from the magic coffee machine.

"I don't need your beverage," Hiei snorted, "I can go weeks without sleep." He winced as the small metal tube glanced off his skull, "Put it on, bitch, or I'll break my foot off in your ass!" Gabriel snarled.

"Insolent wench!" he hissed back.

"Um, are you okay?" Yusuke asked cautiously.

"None of your damn business!" she barked, "Lets get going."

Keh heh heh! I don't even remember howI got the idea for coffee,I don't even drink coffee! ButI love the kind of adventure stories where even the humblest item is magical, like the spining wheel in sleeping beauty, or the mirror Snowwhite's stepmother had.


	23. Icelus

Chapter 23

Icelus

The five heroes were deposited in the Grecian countryside of a tiny island, armed with coffee and compacts. As insane as the situation was, they were even crazier, running headlong into dangers unimaginable and unstoppable. Fortunately, they were near a road, where an eighteen-wheeler truck was passing by. Leaping onto the bed of the truck, they were whisked off to their desired location. "According to the mirrors, we're heading straight toward a huge reading of dream energy, that must be where Mr. Sandman is hiding." Yusuke said. Because of the change in time zones, it was 11:32 p.m., six hours earlier than Japan.

"It's a good thing the unbearable biting chill of the wind is hitting us head on, or I might be tempted to fall asleep!" Kuwabara said sarcastically, rubbing his arms in the mountainous air. "I just had one of those 'what the hell are we doing?' feelings; we're facing unknown danger, riding on top of a truck, and our only defenses are latte-zilla and a Tinkerbell-Ghost-buster."

"While we're waiting," Yusuke began, "or until the road changes direction; would you mind filling me in on what's going on with you, Kurama?"

The red head looked up at the raven-haired boy, and then turned away again, "It's nothing you need to worry yourself with Yusuke," he said, "just some personal business." Yusuke stared at Kurama for a moment in thought, and then he stared at Gabriel, finding a connection between their attitude changes.

"There's something going on between you and Gabi, isn't there?" The blonde and the redhead looked at him with wide eyes. "NO!" they cried.

"Hah! A girl's face can never lie! Spill it!"

"If you think there is anything going on between Kurama and I that is anything other than platonic in context, you must have a rusty screwdriver rupturing your cerebrum. And if there was, as social beings we both are, you would have been informed about it from either party in this debate, whether or not it would be any of your fucking business." She spat coldly.

"Kurama and Gabi, sitting in a tree!" he sang.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Kuwabara continued. She punched him out so fast the concussion in the air hurt their ears.

"Hey, baka, your idiocy is showing," Hiei said, smirking.

"Watch it, shrimp."

"Guys, the road is turning, this is our stop." Gabriel said, looking at her communication mirror. The five of them jumped of the top of the truck as it turned on the edge of a small valley; they landed in soft piles of pine needles and loam. "Hey, now I smell like an air freshener!" Yusuke said, brushing the needles out of his hair.

A forest enveloped them on all sides but the sky above. No clear path could be seen. Kurama turned his face to the wind and sniffed gingerly, "The smell of the ocean is strong; we must be near the coast. That direction is also where there is a stronger gathering of dream energy."

"I suppose that makes sense, with him being a water youkai to be closer to his element. Let's motor." Yusuke said and lead the way. As Gabriel passed Kurama, she tried to look into his eyes; he turned away from her sharply with his eyes stubbornly shut. He walked stiffly away, giving her a cold shoulder. Blushing red, she slowly followed him. 'Why won't he look at me? He must have been serious when he said I caused him pain. If he shuts me out of his life completely, I won't be able to explain to him who I-'

"You're lagging behind, onna," Hiei called from up ahead. Shaking her head, she ran to catch up.

After a half hour of sprinting through the woods, the trees opened up to a rocky cliff that hung out over the ocean. Fixed on top of the cliff was a white marble temple; an ancient building spared by urbanization and given its respected space away from any other dwelling. "He's got to be in there!" Yusuke said, pointing to the massive building, "Any body getting sleepy? Now may be our only chance to try some of this super-coffee."

"I'll pass," Hiei snorted, crossing his arms over the strap he was forced to wear.

"Not really," Kuwabara said. Gabriel and Kurama shook their heads. Nodding, Yusuke lead the way into the ancient temple. The statue of the temple's god or goddess had been smashed to pieces at the entrance. Huge columns reached several meters into the air, supporting the huge ceiling and all of the upper floors. The first floor was almost completely open, and empty, but for the stairs on the other side. They made a move to advance, but out of the flat shadows on the ground, a shape emerged. Torches lining the columns flared to life and revealed Icelus, dressed in his usual green.

"You!" Yusuke cried in shock, "You guys were crushed when that castle caved in! How the hell did you survive that?"

"The same way you did, we flew out. Or did you forget I am the master of animals?" he smirked, reaching into the air and pulling on invisible strands. They began to glow as he wove something out of dream energy. "Who will be the first to be slain by the great Icelus?"

Kuwabara stepped forward, "Let me take this guy. Man versus Animal."

"You sure, Kuwabara?" Gabriel asked; the carrot top nodded and faced his opponent. Instead of creating other animals for Kuwabara to face, he turned himself into a beast by wrapping the strands of dream energy around himself. In a sickening transformation, legs sprouted from his chest, his mass expanded, and his skin and clothes melted together to form a dull hard hide. Before Kuwabara stood a tarantula the size of a Clydesdale horse. "Oh man, I really hate bugs!" he whispered to himself.

"This is your worst nightmare, isn't it Kuwabara?" the towering arachnid said, moving is eight telephone-pole legs. "We are the handlers of dreams as well as nightmares, so we know what makes you squirm in your bed!"

"Don't let him psych you out, dude!" Yusuke shouted. "Squash that bug under your shoe!"

"His foot is as big as me, Urameshi!" Kuwabara cried back. One of the two-clawed legs slammed down on the marble floor right next to the quailing teen. He gave a yelp and leapt away. It was cat-and-mouse as Kuwabara ran around the temple, narrowly avoiding getting squashed. "I hate spiders, I hate spiders, I hate spiders!" Icelus was enjoying it with vicious amusement; he was cocky, half-focused…

"Quit running around and deck him already!" Yusuke said.

"I can't even get near him!" the carrot top shouted back. He skidded to a halt, "Wait, why go around something when you can go through it?" Forming his reiken, he easily cut off half of the next leg that smashed near him. He made short work of the rest of the legs and cornered the floundering body of the arachnid. "The itsby-bitsy spider ain't so tough now, huh?" he smirked. Kuwabara was smothering his personal fears in boldness and desperation.

The maimed spider shifted its form and split into thousands upon thousand of fist-sized creepy-crawlers. Kuwabara let out an uncharacteristically shrill cry. "Stand down fool, and let one of us handle this; you don't seem to have the stomach for so simple a foe." Hiei jested, long since having become bored.

Irked, Kuwabara pushed fear aside again, "Shuddup squirt! I ain't scared of a few little bugs. Sword, get longer!" he shouted and his reiken grew and grew and grew. He held it horizontally on the ground and slowly twisted his wrist, bowling over and destroying the many tiny spiders. "You'll have to do better than that!" he said proudly.

The remaining creatures melted together and formed a single body. A king cobra slithered along the floor at a rapid speed, rising up to look the teen in the eye. The reptile struck, baring his fangs, but the relentless training of beating up a crudely made Urameshi dummy had made Kuwabara just as fast. The snake could dodge the reiken, but Kuwabara could also dodge the poison-filled fangs Icelus was so keen on sinking into him.

Abandoning the snake form, he took on his own form and sprinted backwards from him. This was more difficult than Kuwabara thought; he wasn't supposed to be this strong, this fast… Icelus had to finish him quickly if he was to survive. If one animal could not slay him, then he would send many. His threads formed an infantry of predatory felines: lions and tigers and leopards…

"Oh my," Icelus crowed, "It seems you are out numbered, and just like always, they are quite real."

The proverbial king of the jungle stepped forward and prepared to strike. The others watched anxiously, _fearfully_.

Kuwabara didn't even bat an eyelash.

He smacked the beast on the skull with his weapon. "No! Bad kitty!" the lion shook his mane and eyed the teen. Years of owning cats, raising and training them for obedience gave him the unspoken authority he needed to command the creature; his very aura was shaped in a way the animal's sixth sense understood as 'master.' Kuwabara fearlessly petted the shaggy mane, murmuring to the feline, "Good boy, now, sic'em!"

The huge cat obeyed and charged his creator; the smell of fear and blood coming from him was _much_ more enticing than a skinny human anyway…

Icelus moved his fingers rapidly to unweave the beast before the huge jaws closed over his throat. Unfortunately, for him, he had made the animals a little too real, and pack-instincts kicked in; the other animals followed the lion and attacked the man, knocking him down. He could not have unwoven all of them in time, and he was killed at the hand, or paw, of his own creations. As soon as he was completely dead, the animals vanished, leaving his carcass half-eaten on the ground.

Kuwabara dispelled his reiken with an air of satisfaction. "Hey guys, I think I just conquered my fear of spiders!" he said cheerfully, turning to see they were gone. "Uh, guys?"

"Over here, baka!" Hiei called. They had already gone past the battle scene and were ascending the stairs.

"Hey wait up!"


	24. Phobetor

Golden Vixen-AAAAH! I haven't been on the net in a while, at least not to check my review box. I wanted to answer your question; Kurama thought he knew who Gabi was, but he's really confused. She's bitterly in denial; though she is now 100 sure she is a youko inside.

However, her heart does not belong to Kurama. She's a stubborn girl who never submits and won't give in to what Kurama thinks. He has to win back her heart if he ever wants to be with her again, but because they have turned away from each other out of grief, fear, and anger, that won't be so simple.

Please forgive me for neglecting my reviewers. >T.T( )

Chapter 24

Phobetor

"If that guy was so easy, then we should be home by sunrise!" the carrot top declared.

Kurama shook his head, "If we have learned anything from our past battles, its that groups of monsters put the weakest in front. They only get harder from here."

"You're so negative," Kuwabara chided.

The second floor to the temple was walled in with no windows. Oil lamps hung from movable stands around the perimeter of the room, but failed to light more than a few inches around the flames. Not a sound was heard in the room; the Tantei could hear each other breathing. Gabriel strode up to the nearest lamp and hurled it into the center of the room. As the oil splashed across the floor, the flame ignited it and illuminated the room for a few seconds as the oil burned up. A figure stood inches away from the fire, the flames making his eyes glow. When the oil burned up, the darkness swallowed him up again.

They took defensive stances when a low rumbling was heard. It grew slowly until a crack sounded. The smooth marble floor began to shatter from the center of the floor and expanded outward. The floor ripped open beneath them, letting an amber light show through, and they jumped to either side of the rift. Kurama landed on the brittle edge, which broke from beneath him. He fell, with nothing to grab onto, but the hand that seized the front of his sur-coat and yanked him back onto solid ground.

The relief that flooded his mind turned cold when he saw the green-clad girl in front of him. He didn't even look at her face when he walked away from her. "The least you could do is say 'thank you.'" She said to his retreating back.

From the center of the glowing crevices, tongues of fire lapped the edges, and a column of rock jutted out into the air. Phobetor, dressed in a gray pair of pants, boots and a light robe, knelt on the jagged stone. "So you have felled my brother in service. I suspected you would have. I trust you know of the Master's plan to rule the worlds?"

"Nah, we're selling girl-scout cookies!" Yusuke said. The offending character stood, brushing back his robe to put his hand on his hip and reveal his bare chest. The threads of his alternating environment hung in his other fist. With an amused chuckle, he raised an eyebrow, "Which of you will it be to perish in the fire first?"

Kurama stepped forward, "I will fight you, but I do not intend on being the one who falls."

Phobetor chuckled again, fingering the silver dream-threads, "The most horrible things have happened with the best of intentions, Kurama. Let's see," he paused to stare at the floor in thought. "Ah, yes, the most interesting thing to do is for you to fight against your element. Being a plant manipulator…flames it is then! Come, I beg you, do battle with the elements of fire." The chasm of fire grew, pushing them back against the walls, with only a few feet of leeway. A platform erupted from the burning hole, welcoming Kurama to the fire. Phobetor's platform leveled with the ground the Tantei stood on and spread into a great arena. He let the threads fall and disappear into nothing as Kurama floated towards him.

"I will not make the same mistake Phobetor made and have my power turned against me." The mage said as tongues of fire lapped at his body and formed a flickering suit of armor. "I will be the fire, and the fire will be me."

Kurama drew his rose whip with the grace of having done many times before in the past. He cracked the whip and attempted to pierce the fiery armor surrounding his foe. With a flick his hand, Phobetor sliced through the offending vine and let the remainder of the plant shrivel in the heat. Withdrawing his burnt flower, Kurama drew another seed he seldom used. The death tree grew like an explosion and attacked. The hungry mouths dripping acid saliva lunged for the fiery body, but as soon as they touched him, they curled in the heat and died. The whole tree was reduced to ashes in seconds, nearly burning Kurama's hand before he redrew the seed.

"Come over and play Kurama, all of your toys seem to keep breaking." The figure taunted, letting the flames dance merrily.

Kurama frowned and thought for a moment, remaining where he was. Phobetor, who was not as patient as he sounded, decided not to dawdle. He charged and struck out at the redhead with fiery fists. Kurama leapt away and began dodging a torrent of hand-to-hand attacks. He landed a single blow on his shoulder, hurling the redhead across the arena. The fox rolled on the ground and straightened himself, glaring at his opponent, ignoring the painful welt on his arm.

"Oh joy, this will be much more interesting now that he's angry." Phobetor said, grinning. Kurama charged, putting his hands up and casting a wave of fireproof thorns at the fiery man. Skidding to a halt, he watched in disbelief as a wall of solid carbon deflected them; the remains of his other plants gathered in a sturdy wall of ash. He started running again, towards his foe and threw a handful of seeds at the wall. They took root in the ash and grew, shattering the wall with their thread-like roots. Phobetor's shield fell in a flurry flowers, mocking him with their lovely scent.

'Wait,' Kurama thought, 'if the wall can be pierced by so small a thing, then his armor should have the same weakness.' Without a further thought, he attacked the stunned Phobetor with his bare hand; he plunged his right hand into the fires and struck his chest. He succeeded in his plan to force a death seed plant into his skin, but he had not thought about his hand.

Though it was small enough to pierce the armor, the shield was not made of normal fire, where the coolest point is the center of the flame, but rather it was a solid wall of heat and… well Kurama would never be able to use his hand again. They both screamed in pain as Phobetor died and Kurama's hand was scarred beyond recognition. His flesh, tendons, muscles, and bones melted together in a mess attached to his arm. The fires around him disappeared and the floor closed again just in time for his friends to sprint over to him. He screamed in unbearable agony, tears pouring down his cheeks, with his arm cradling his hand.

His cries stopped as a cool hand touched his face; a tangible feeling of relief washed through his veins and he closed his eyes tiredly, coping with the shock. The hand retracted and touched what was left of his hand. A single tone filled the air, a perfect note singing the badness away. The pain stopped immediately and a tingle spread through his limbs. His cells came to life and in seconds, the tingle stopped and he opened his eyes. His eyes grew wide as he stretched out his hand, good as new.

The other three members of the team gaped in amazement as Gabriel repaired the seemingly lost limb with a single touch. Her aura was glowing around her as she used her healing powers to first, eliminate his pain and calm him, and make his cells reproduce and reshape his hand. Her voice was her tool to channel her energy to him. Of course, he was still splattered his own blood, but it was not a detail that he was currently directing his attention to. He saw a faint line flicker around her ears, like a shadow, but made of light, and he thought he saw… animal ears? 'That can't be right, it must be a stray strand of her aura discharging or something.'

She took her hand off him and stood, turning her back on him. "Get up," she ordered in an icy voice, "We still have work to do." The dazed males followed obediently up the steps on the opposite side of the room, keeping their distance from the cold, but regal female. Phobetor was still alive; gasping for breath on the floor as the roots of the plant slowly pierced his lungs. Gabriel approached him and knelt, pulling him up, "How can we get the Rods away from Morpheus? Tell me and I can ease your passing." She asked, her manner softening.

"Never. You can't touch him; -gasp- Master has many shields."

"Tell me how to get past them, he cannot be allowed to have the Rods any longer; the universe will tear itself apart!"

"And what will you do once you get through to him?" he laughed, spraying more blood onto the floor, "I've watched you fight before, you don't have the guts to kill; its against your stupid human principles to kill another pers-"

A shot rippled through the night.

The contents of his skull splattered on the ground behind him and his body fell backwards. Gabriel lowered her firearm and walked over his body coldly. "Rest in peace," she said with a venomous sincerity.


	25. Phantasus

The story gets really angsty and intense, maybe even gory. I've been trying to be realistic and work with realistic people with more than one side, not like 2-d cartoon baddies that (although entertaining) are not believable.

Chapter 25

Phantasus

The third floor of the temple was a labyrinth of solid ice; each corridor was no larger than six feet across. An icy wind swept past them, blasting their hair and clothes around, and making the flame to a single lamp flicker. The walls were a bluish color, semi transparent, and very smooth, reflecting the Tantei in its surface. A voice echoed through the walls and filled the room.

"Welcome, wakamusha, young warriors." The cool voice said. "So you have foiled my brothers? Well, I must say I am impressed. But it will take more than muscle to defeat me, for this challenge, you shall use your heads. Come and find me in this maze; but you had better hurry, because everyten minutes you waste, the temperature will drop ten degrees. In a matter of hours, you will all freeze to death." The voice ceased and another blast of wind rushed past them.

Gabriel rubbed her arms, "What should we do? We could get lost in there for days!"

"If there was a way to keep track of where we've been, we would eventually find the end." Yusuke said.

"Well, we don't have any string or something to mark the walls with." Kuwabara said.

"Well, Gabi, I guess its up to you." Yusuke said.

"Me!" she squeaked.

"Sure, your tetsujin abilities let you read the things around you, right? You can tell where and where not to go."

"Well, yeah,"

"So, lead the way! Its freezing in here!" and so they followed her. She walked slowly at first, feeling with her ki the different paths and where they led; but then she went faster, almost jogging down the identical corridors. The light began to fade the farther they got away from the entrance, so she opened the magazine chamber to her rei-guns, and let her light shine out; this used none of her energy like the stone on her staff.

Eight minutes had passed when a low vibration was felt through the floor. Gabriel slid to a stop; "The maze is changing; that asshole is cheating!" a slab of ice slid down into the floor, creating a doorway, while another slide up beside them, closing another door.

"What should we do?" Kuwabara quailed.

"Cheat back!" Yusuke said, pointing his finger up, "Maybe we can jump the walls. Reigun!" he fired a bright sphere into the air and watched it streak away.

"It just goes on forever," he said, and then a small explosion was seen far away at the ceiling, "Maybe not." Hiei sprung up, ricocheting of the walls like Super Mario. He disappeared into the darkness above for a few seconds before a faint, 'damn it!' drifted down to them. Hiei slammed back to the ground in a kneeling position, nursing a small cut on his cheek. A rumbling sound grew again and the ceiling suddenly became a lot closer than before.

Sharp stalactites loomed over them, daring them to move. "Well, that was a bust!" Yusuke cried; the thousands of dagger-like points rattled with the waves of his voice, glittering in Gabriel's ki-light. A wave of icy spears rained down on them; they dodged, taking various strange poses, looking like Twister champions, with stalactites millimeters away from a leg or a head. "Shh!" she smooshed his lips down with her finger, "Whisper, or we're shish kabob!" she hissed.

"We can't go on like this; we'll freeze to death or get impaled." Kurama whispered.

"Why don't we just do the easy thing and break through the walls," Hiei slammed his Fist of the Mortal Flame into the wall. He drew his hand back, shaking it to dull the pain. The wall stood strong with only a small crack.

"Look, there's a thermometer in my watch," Kurama pointed out. "Its already ten degrees below zero; the colder it gets, the harder the ice gets. Some ice in Antarctica is as strong as steel."

"That lovely geography lesson still doesn't solve our problem." Hiei snorted.

"Then we'll just have to hit harder," Kuwabara said, summoning his reiken. He sliced cleanly through a wall without disturbing the crystal shards above. "Hah!" he cried triumphantly, only to slap a hand over his mouth.

The walls around them began to shift again. The stalactites disappeared; a staircase jutted out from the floor and connected with the edge of a hole in the ceiling. Another staircase came out of the wall sideways and connected with another wall. The floor opened up beneath Kuwabara and he fell with a cry, but stopped; when they looked down the hole, the saw Kuwabara sitting on the edge of a step, staring back at them, but horizontal. "I must be high, or something! My brain is telling me you should be falling backwards or something!" Yusuke said.

"Mine says you should be falling too," he answered back.

"This place looks like a work by M. C. Escher; the Relativity Room!" Kurama mused.

"This _is_ a dream world; the harder we try to get out of here, the more difficult he makes it." Gabriel said, jumping into the hole. Her body stuck to the wall, and as she sat up against the new gravity, she perceived the wall as a floor. "I think I'm going to puke," she mumbled.

"How the hell are we supposed to find the end to the maze now?" Yusuke said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Come with us, its this way." The blonde said, "Kuwabara, help me here; you guys just lay on your stomachs and grab our hands, you should transfer to our plane." And sure enough they did. As they lay down and took the hands of their comrades, they felt gravity pull on them in a way suggesting that they were hanging on the edge of a cliff.

"It just dropped ten more degrees," Kurama said, "its –20 degrees Fahrenheit."

"Lets go, Gabi!" Yusuke cried. They pressed on, climbing at odd angles, and adjusting to the ever-manipulated gravity. A network of icy air currents blew around them, dropping the temperature another ten degrees. The Tantei slowed exhaustedly, losing energy with their body warmth. Snow began to pile up on their feet as they trudged along.

"Almost there," Gabriel mumbled, regretting that she wore tights. Her staff fell from her hands as her fingers became useless and had a burning feeling. She looked over her shoulder at her comrades, only to find them strewn about the staircase they were climbing. "Guys! Get up! If you rest, you'll fall asleep and freeze to death!" she knelt down to Yusuke, who was slumped against the wall with one leg stretched across the step. "Get up, Yusuke!" she slapped him ineptly.

"Gabi… can't move." He muttered, "Coffee." He said, asking her with his eyes. She tried to unscrew the lid to his thermos, but her fingers could not grip the lid.

"Yusuke, I can't. My hands are numb. Can you still muster your reiki? I need you to blow the lid off the thermos. Yusuke!" his eyes began to flutter and slid shut. She felt sleep washing over her; only her fear of what she would become made her hands move. She used her numb hands like a pincer to lift the thermos and press it to his mouth, while working her astral-projection on the lid. The lid went semi transparent, and the coffee passed though it like a ghost through a wall. He swallowed the super coffee weakly, only for his body to shudder and come alive at an alarming rate.

"FCK THAT SHT IS NASTY!" he screamed, dragging his sleeve over his mouth several times. Twitching he grabbed the other four, two in each arm, around the waist and charged up the stairs at lightning speed. Dumping them on the ground, he opened their thermoses and forced a little of the foul liquid into their mouths. All five of them were running around trying to satisfy the energy inside them trying to get out. After smacking into each other and falling on the ground, they saw the center of the maze.

A clear blue light hovered in the air, in the exact center of the room. Hiei, being the closest, reached out and touched the light. The oddly angled staircases around them shrank back into the walls, while the doors closed up, and the walls slid back into the floor, leaving them in the center of a frozen abyss. Phantasus appeared out of the icy light, dressed in a dark violet robe. "Well done, but now that you are weakened by the cold, it should be no trouble finishing you off," he smirked proudly.

Hiei, who was next to fight, drew his katana faster than he had ever done and struck out at him. "Coffee!" he yelled. Phantasus jumped back in alarm and confusion etched his face. "Why aren't you weakened?" he asked in anger, pulling a strand of dream-thread across the distance between them; a thick wall of ice slid up from the floor, deflecting a direct thrust from the Koorime's katana.

"I'm a fire youkai, baka; I have my ways." Hiei smirked and continued to drive Phantasus back. The mage pulled a second thread, and the temperature dropped sharply. The remaining Tantei dropped to the ground, huddled together. "It's s-s-so c-cold-d-d, I f-f-eel l-like m-m-my t-t-teeth are g-going t-t-to sh-shat-t-t-er!" Yusuke commented, wrapping his arms around himself.

"M-my eyes f-feel f-frozen!" Gabriel stuttered. "I hope Hiei k-k-ills him-m qu-quick!"

Said youkai was unaffected by the temperature, now having enough energy to control his body heat. "You're just prolonging the inevitable; hold still!" he said. Phantasus looked panicky, randomly throwing up ice walls to stall Hiei. Hiei plowed through his defense with the ease of swatting a wall of cardboard away.

The cold became unlike anything this planet is capable of. The Tantei fell sideways on the ground; their limbs locked up, and their breathing became dangerously shallow. Since they had entered the labarynth, each of them tried to move their reiki around inside their bodies to keep warm, but even this was fruitless. "Th-the air… is th-thin-n-ning…" Kurama said, "If we don't f-freeze to d-death first, w-we'll suf-f-focate."

"Hang on, g-guys. Hiei c-can d-do it." Yusuke said confidently.

The fire Koorime put in a burst of speed an impaled his foe. Phantasus let out a gurgling gasp and slumped forward. Shoving the body off his sword with his foot, Hiei turned to his comrades. They were immobilized; even the coffee was losing its power in the cold. "Hiei," Yusuke said with a wry smile, "W-would you m-m-mind helping us-s out?" he asked casually.

"Why?"


	26. Truly, or Falsely

Chapter 26

Truly or Falsely?

Temptation reared its ugly head and pranced in front of the Koorime's eyes. He could just let them die and be free of them forever; and because it was not he that killed them, he would walk away sinless and release himself from Koenma's service. He could return to his previous life of protecting his sister at all times, and not have to worry about the fool trying to get cozy with her…

"Why?"

"Um, c-cause we're p-part of a t-t-team?" Gabriel put in, slipping into unconsciousness.

"And I could be rid of you all, by letting you all freeze to death; I would not have to get my hands dirty." Hiei pondered aloud, wiping the blood from his katana and sheathing it.

"You… l-l-little…b-bastard!" Kuwabara cried weakly.

"Cry all you want, baka. It'll be quieter when you're gone, and I'll enjoy watching you die."

"Hiei…" Kurama said, closing his eyes, leaving his sentence unfinished. Gabriel, who had her eyes closed, managed to force out two last words, "Behind…you…"

The sound of metal escaping a scabbard mixed with that of a grunt was the only thing to be heard. Phantasus stood behind the fire youkai gripping a dagger made of ice; Hiei had thrust his sword under his arm and into the mage's stomach, freezing his movements. Apparently the first blow was not enough to kill him, hence the remaining cold. Hiei made sure he was truly dead by jerking his sword upward through his ribcage and ripping out his throat. The temperature instantly snapped back to normal and the four teens on the ground stood up.

"Such a good little actor!" Yusuke caught Hiei in a headlock while rubbing his knuckles in the yokai's hair. Hiei cracked him over the head with the hilt of his katana, "Touch me like that again and I'll gut you with a rusty hook!" he snapped. Yusuke rubbed his head and laughed.

"So that was just an act… to draw Phantasus into a more vulnerable position. Very clever, Hiei." Kurama said.

"Hn,"

"Stairs are this way, guys." The blonde said over her shoulder.

As the other four ascended the stairs, Gabriel slowed behind them and was cornered by Kurama before a landing. The others went on without them, either unknowingly, or sensing the conflict between them. Kurama stepped directly in front of her, spreading his arms to keep her from going around him. She stopped, never raising her eyes to him, with her bangs hanging in her face.

"We need to talk," he said stiffly.

"There is nothing left to talk about Kurama; we parted, never to speak again."

"Then I was wrong. There is something important I think you're hiding from me. You didn't act this way when we parted back at your apartment."

She skirted around him and climbed a few steps past him. "I'm not hiding anything from you; I'm only pushing you out of my life like you did to me. We both agreed to leave each other alone," her eyes burned angrily into his as she looked over her shoulder.

He ran up the steps and stopped in front of her again. "You're holding something from me that could change all that. Please, there's something different that I have to know," he held her face with one hand as she turned away, "I feel it in my heart; you don't feel the same, and it's pulling at me. I will never know whether or not I made a mistake if you don't tell me how your spirit changed."

Gabriel jerked her chin out of his hand and went up one step, standing beside him and looking forward. "I am nothing important to you," her voice was cold and bitter, "just a face that makes you regret your own past. The only thing you and I could have shared is a bitter unknowing that eats away at our hearts; unknowing whether or not we ever experienced love or a false euphoria." She walked further up the stairs to complete their mission, denying her heart any feeling.

Kurama's own heart turned cold to her again, and he pushed it out of his mind as he rejoined his comrades.

They followed the passage into yet another dark room; fortunately there were two blazing fires on the far wall of the room, which was only a small fraction of the entire floor's area. The only thing visible other than the fires was a shape on the floor edged with the orange light around it. The shape was all too familiar to Gabriel. Without waiting for the others, she sprinted towards it and crouched by the shape.

She whispered, hoping the figure on the ground would show signs of life. "Daren…Daren, wake up." She slapped his grisly cheek gently. Dried blood had seeped from his nose, lips, cuts of his face, and an unrecognizable wound on his scalp hidden by his hair. He was lying on his left side in a half-fetal position like a dog. She pushed on his right shoulder to roll him over; restricting her gag reflex when she realized his collarbone was broken. She couldn't hold her stomach at what she saw when she looked down at his torso through the shredded fabric of his black cape, and emptied it a few staggering paces away from him.

Yusuke and the others had caught up with her and exchanged looks of confusion and horror. "Daren? Oh! Geeze…!" he turned his face away. Gabriel stumbled back to her father figure's side, tears welling up in her eyes. "Daren, wake up!" His face twisted in an expression of pain for a moment, his voice was a soft scratchy croak, but she understood the single word he said, "Pup?" His eyes remained closed in pain; his left had reached out for anything to confirm his question.

She grabbed his hand, pressing it to her cheek, "I'm right here; don't talk or try to move, I'm going to try and heal you a little." Gabriel hesitantly placed her hand on the remnants of his stomach wall, willing her reiki to flow into his body and rebuild him. She closed the skin and his organs inside, only to find the bruises on his chest indicated multiple broken ribs, and a broken left arm, and a dislocated knee. "Gabi?" Yusuke's soft voice entered her little world of grief and concentration. "Is there any way I can…?"

Her tears had long since begun to flow; she answered in a shaky whisper of anger, "Find out who did this to him; because I'm going to do worse to them."

Yusuke stood up briskly and peered into the darkness, feeling with his spirit awareness for any other life forms. He felt a flicker of something dark lash out at him; it was only a sliver, but it made him shiver fitfully in comprehension of the masked energy. "He's here," he said. The others tried to block out the almost tangible youki that now washed over them, teasing them with its darkness. Gabriel, who was focusing her energy on the bloodied man, shivered and laid her head on his chest. She couldn't block _him_ out, and she knew he was enjoying her squirming under his energy like his hands on her bare skin.

Daren opened his eyes and felt the weight on his chest with his hand. His daughter's hair met his fingers and she looked up at him, "Daren!" she said in surprise; he should have stayed unconscious until his strength returned. He stroked her face, calming her again. Her guard dropped and his fingers curled around her slender throat.

"Hello, pup."


	27. Behind the Doors

Chapter 27

Behind the Doors

At the top of a cliff in Greece, an ancient building stood against the lashing sea and freezing air. It was a place of worship, but evil resided within, marring its truer purpose. The highest room in the marble temple held no light, only a throne of black and blue. It rested on a work of smooth concrete in the shape of a pyramid. Embedded in the surface were many faceted mirrors with jagged edges and polished faces.

There also stood a water-filled basin cut into a black pillar of smooth stone. Silver designs were set in its surface, shaped like demons with wings and no names. Three figures stood around the water, watching the surface as it revealed images of other places and people. The figure at one side was that of the personified raven, Ká, in the center was her master, hidden in the darkness, and at the end stood a sorcerer half-werewolf. His black eyes held no spark of life.

He watched the images in the basin of his daughter but felt no affection for her, only the desire to serve Morpheus. The youkai held the stolen instruments of his profession and put them to work; his mind control had snared the half-werewolf into his service. "Hanyo, go and serve me." He said in a deep, commanding baritone.

Daren knelt before him, "How may I serve, master?"

Morpheus signaled for Ká to lead him away, "As bait." The raven led him out of the cheerless room and into a smaller chamber with two fireplaces. Daren stood obediently in front of the raven as she brandishes her talons; she sank them onto his skin and pulled away, taking chunks of his flesh with them. He felt the pain, the feeling of his innards being mutilated, and his bones snapping under her attacks, but he could not will himself to defend himself.

His heart was full of grief, because it knew his daughter would be sad, but his more easily fooled brain was the one in control of his body. When his strength ran out, he fell to the floor, bleeding. Ká started to kick him in the ribs for good measure; in the back of her mind, she felt her master pull her away. "Don't kill him, just barely let him live. The girl will drain herself to heal him, and she will no longer be a threat when he is at full strength again and destroys her."

Obediently, she drew away and went back into the other room; with a flutter of her wings, she sat on the arm of the chair next to Morpheus. "Then, you may destroy the black-haired boy, seeing as how you missed your opportunity back at the castle." He said irritably, but his anger subsided and he petted her wings. "But this time I will make sure no red-haired youkai distracts you from your task. The others are also weakened and will be no threat to me." Giving an indifferent squawk, she ruffled her wings, preening with her hands. "Now, we wait."


	28. Broken

Chapter 28

Broken

The black-clad man rose, holding his daughter in the air by the throat. "Da-ren!" she rasped with pain-filled eyes. He tightened his grip, cutting off her air completely. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Yusuke cried, reaching to help his friend. With a wave of his hand, the werewolf sent him flying back, smashing into the others. He set up a spell that would prevent them from crossing the room to help the girl dangling off the floor.

Gabriel was flung backwards, sliding across the floor near a fireplace. She sat up weakly, "Daren- stop! Its me-oh no…" her eyes grew wide with fear in realization, "you're under his control!"

The man stood over her, raising his hand to cast a hex. "Morpheus told me to destroy you, but he didn't say I had to do it right away; I think I'll take my time. And since your spirit energy is drained, you can't escape or fight back."

Yusuke dragged himself up from the crater in the wall; he pounded in the shimmering wall between them, "Leave her alone, you jerk!"

"Be quiet, boy; you'll get yours soon enough." Daren spat, turning his hand toward the Tantei; in a small flash, they felt the very real effect of being stabbed in the heart. Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Yusuke sank to their knees, clutching their chests in pain. They felt the hot pain of internal bleeding and their lungs constricting. Kurama sputtered, feeling his stomach turn, "What have you done!"

The sorcerer gave a chuckle, "Like it? I've learned a series of torturing hexes; they make a person feel the pain of torture, but because it doesn't actually hurt them, one can enjoy another's agony for a longer span, and in many different ways."

"Stop it!" Gabriel rose to her feet, "Fight it; you have to resist!" she cried.

Shaking his head, he swept the air out from under her, flinging her on her side. "You just don't understand, do you, pup; or should I say 'kit'," he added in a dangerous whisper. He began a soft, but menacing tirade only she was close enough to hear. "Morpheus has the Rods, I couldn't resist if I wanted to; and besides, I had forgotten how much fun it is to be bad."

"Excuses satisfy only those that make them; fight it!"

"Shut your mouth, brat! Or better yet, lets take your voice away…" a shadow disconnected from his hand and slid over the floor. The black shape moved over her and found its way down her throat. The shadow flew back out and into its owner's hand. Daren held out a glass sphere the size of a tennis ball with a shimmering, golden cloud inside. "Fascinating!" he said, examining her epiphany of a voice box. "Usually when I remove someone's voice, it is the size of a shooter marble, and doesn't shine so bright. Perhaps it is because you have such a lovely singing voice…"

"Stop it!" Yusuke cried again, pounding on the shield with renewed fervor; she could no longer voice her pain, as she was tortured. Ignoring the outburst, the sorcerer continued.

"How about I show you what it feels like to have your heart ripped from your chest? Your heart has been broken anyway; has it not, Kurama?" Daren eyed the redhead with a smug look. Kurama kept his face an emotionless mask. "Perhaps you would both like to feel this." The hex hit both the kitsune and the shaman. She tried to scream, but no sound came out, however, she heard Kurama's screams of pain from across the room. Their ribs felt like they were being ripped open and their beating hearts were severed from their bodies. "Now, doesn't that hurt?" Daren laughed cruelly.

Kuwabara summoned his reiken and tried to slice through the shield, which was the only thing bottling his rage. "How dare you torture a woman, you coward? She just saved your life!" he roared. The shield did not yield and he stood back in defeat.

"Put your sword away, little boy; you could get hurt." Daren sneered.

Another hex hit him and Kuwabara folded his hands under his arms in an attempt to dull the pain. "I feel like my fingernails are being ripped out!" he said through gritted teeth. Hiei, angered by the man's audacity, tore the ward from his arm and attempted to release the Dragon. "Ah, ah!" Daren said, wagging his finger, which sent another hex towards him. Hiei bent double and bit back his own screams. Intrigued by the smaller fighter's silence, Daren taunted him, "Tell me, Hiei, how does your skin being ripped off feel? Isn't it delicious? Lets add some burning coals being pressed onto your shredded flesh."

Hiei could not keep silent; he clawed at his skin as he screamed, trying to remove the non-existent embers from his body. Yusuke watched his four comrades writhe in pain; "I can't watch this. Daren, please, stop!" he shouted.

"You won't be able to watch as your eyes feel like being ripped from their sockets." The detective joined the chorus of screams, to the sorcerer's delight. Gabriel, crying silently, sat up from the pain of the hex as it faded, this redirected Daren's attention and he bore down on her with all his power. "Would you like some more, sweet-heart? I have a whole book's worth of hexes I learned just for you. You wasted twenty years of my life; you know that? Here, try a chain whipping on for size."

She leaned forward on her palms, flinching noticeably with each imaginary tongue of fiery pain that lapped her skin. She panted heavily after the hex wore off, glaring at the sorcerer defiantly through her tears. He frowned, "What's the matter? Not painful enough for you? Or is it that you don't appreciate anything I've ever done to raise you? Try feeling having most of the bones in your body crushed, maybe you'll be grateful this isn't your true fate." She fell back, jerking with each wave of white-hot needle-like pain that coursed through her limbs, but her jaw set grimly.

"What the hell is she doing?" Kuwabara whispered, rubbing his hands absently to make sure his nails were still there. Kurama took several deep breaths to relieve his chest from his own hex-experience, "She's distracting him."

"Why! That must hurt like hell!" Yusuke hissed.

"Dumb ass, she's distracting him so we can find a way to escape." Hiei said, inspecting the perimeter of the imprisonment. "We have to figure out a way to get out of here before he gets bored and decides to kill her." They discreetly began to chatter and brainstorm while Daren continued to torture Gabriel.

"I should never have rescued you that day;" he snarled, hexing her again, "this one is special, its what a trout feels like when it's gutted. You would have been gutted if I had not rescued you that day anyway, and made into a lovely coat, or a rug. This is what it feels like to have your skin sewn into something else," he watched her curl up in a ball, shivering and weeping, "with lots of embroidery. I can't say you're all bad though; you did turn out to be a shaman after all, and what parent wouldn't be proud of their child's accomplishments? Oh yes, I remember whom, _my father_, after you riddled him with arrows and later tore his soul out. Lets see how you feel being ripped apart!"

Tears fell from her cheeks as she rolled across the ground, trying to get away from him. Her back hit the fire screen in front of the mantle, knocking it down. "You little witch, you ruined my life by being born! I say burn at the stake!" she shuddered and rubbed her arms, trying to put out the imaginary flames that made her feel like her skin was melting off. "You bore me, little fox. Let's kick it up a notch. Have the feeling of decapitation, oh and being raped, just to make it interesting."

Her limbs lost their feeling as she felt like they had severed from her body, replaced by stinging bands of pain around her arms and legs, and the sensation of carnal knowledge that could not be nursed. He grinned, staring down at her; her body was perfectly unharmed, but she looked ready to let death come by any means. Sweat mixed with her tears, and her eyes dulled; the spark of resistance- her spirit- her attitude- faded.

"Had enough? So have I, lets get this over with and call it a day." He drew one of the reiguns from her holster and aimed it at her chest when-

CRASH!

The marble floor began to shatter beneath the Tantei as Yusuke blew a hole in the floor, jumped through to the third floor, and fired a second Reigun blast at the ceiling. The shield, which did not penetrate the floor below, was useless as the four angered men exploded up through the floor under Daren's feet. Yusuke pounced on the stunned man, and forced the remainder of his coffee down his throat. "What on God's green earth _is_ that vile liquid!" he sputtered, sitting up.

Yusuke swung the thermos on its strap casually, "Coffee-zilla from Reikai. You okay there, Merlin?"

"Okay? I-" he gasped in realization and ran to Gabriel's side. She lay on the floor, eyelids half closed, jaw slack. He gently slapped her cheek as she had done to him, "Pup! Gabriel, snap out of it, dear!" she blinked and scuttled away from him. Yusuke ran to her side and stopped her, "Its okay now, he's awake. I mean _really_ awake. Oh, and you lost this," he presented her voice back to her, which disappeared back into her being again. She turned back to Daren, looking very small and helpless and sad. Yusuke directed the others away from the two in search of a door to the next room.

Gabriel wiped her cheek with her fist as more tears poured down her face. Daren ran up to her and buried her in his cloaked arms. "Oh, Gabriel, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do this!" She clung to him, shaking, "I didn't mean all those things I said, and all the things I've done. Forgive me, daughter!" he whispered. She managed to contain herself enough to stop crying and pulled away, smiling. She had forgiven him already.

"Before we go on," Yusuke said, turning to the others, "I'd like to know how you're able to do magic, I thought you were human."

The werewolf said sagely, "There are many questions, Yusuke, to which I cannot give answers; but in time I believe all will be made clear."


	29. Ká Boom

Chapter 29

Ká Boom

Yusuke slammed the door to the next room open, anger blazing in his eyes. Not a moment passed after he opened the door when a set of talons raked across his chest from out of the darkness. He struck blindly at his attacker, flinging her far back with a squawk. He charged into the dark room, firing his Shotgun blast. Daren, followed by the others, cast a spell to light up the room. Spheres of light flew from his palm and took their place in the corners of the room.

Yusuke devoted his full attention to the raven woman, singeing her feathers with his attack. She flew away to the back of the room. "Yusuke, look!" Gabriel whispered, pointing to the center of the rear wall, where the pyramid of shattered mirrors supported their true foe. "Greetings all," a deep voice stretched to fill every corner of the room; Morpheus stood tall in the light, revealing his true face. He was tall and pale; his skin was almost a bluish color. His black hair was cut short, below his ears, and swept back from his face; but even though his hair was pulled back, an unnatural shadow hung from his brow and hid his eyes from them. The water youkai was dressed in a dusty blue colored robe over his bare chest, and black hakama. (Just like Kenshin's! -) "You may trust that you nuisances have my full attention now; I have no intention of letting you leave here alive." He raised his arm, revealing one of the Rods, "I'm raising your power, Ká, you are at your full potential of strength and speed," he said to his pet, "Destroy him."

The raven attacked, faster than ever. Yusuke could only shield himself with his arms. "Plan B! Plan B!" he cried. Gabriel screwed up her face in panic.

"Okay! Um…plan B…um…" she was suddenly distracted by the mountain of mirrors; they began to shift from a pile of broken glass to a storm of glittering metal, amplifying the dream-waves. "Many shields…rush him!" They all poured their energy into a group charge, blindly forcing their way through barriers that would have dazzled their eyes.

From afar, an incredible explosion could be seen as the roof to an ancient Greek temple blew off. Flashes of all colors, a raging dragon-shaped cloud, and towering, thrashing tree limbs tore at the sky. Six tiny points of light shot away from the wreckage at top speed.

Yusuke and Gabriel each carried a Rod they had risked their skin for from the hurricane of glass shards, and were surrounded by the others as they ran away. "Where do we go?" Yusuke shouted to the others. Kurama checked his mirror, "Follow the other two sources of dream waves. Yusuke and Kuwabara, follow me; the rest of you, follow Gabriel, and at all costs, get the Rods to the Gates!" the group split; one half went east and the other west. Yusuke followed Kurama west with a Rod in his hands. "How much farther, Kurama?" he asked.

"One of the two Gates is on the other side of this island, about ten miles from here."

"Ten miles!"

"Don't worry, Yusuke; the other Gate isn't nearly as far, but I do have a plan as to how we may increase our velocity." The town, which the temple overlooked, was only one mile away; where Kurama's thief senses brought him to a bike shop. Abandoning stealth, he jumped through the front window and quickly hot-wired two Yamahas. "Kurama, have you ever ridden one of these before?"

"What's to know? Just like riding a bike, only no pedaling! Get on!" Yusuke gulped as he climbed on the motorcycle behind the redhead. The owner of the shop was nearly run over as the two vehicles sailed out through the front window. Kuwabara instinctively covered the rear to delay any followers. Yusuke, spitting out the long red hair that kept slapping him in the face, shouted in the wind, "How much farther? We still have to make sure Gabi and the others reach the other Gate in time."

"Eight more miles, and we're going the fastest these can go!"

Gabriel, Daren, and Hiei were sprinting down the coastline, hopping over the jagged rocks of the beach. Daren lead the way to the Gate, having seen its location before whilst serving Morpheus. "It's not that far away; only a mile or so from here. Without his henchmen, he should catch up with us slower."

"Wrong," a voice boomed through the roar of the sea. The water receded from the shore, piling up in a monstrously huge image of the water yokai's upper body. "You have only faced my minions; you haven't got an inkling of the depth of my power!" the water imitating Morpheus' body changed back into a tidal wave, bearing down on them. Gabriel screamed; Hiei snatched her and Daren up by the hand, and the sorcerer formed another shield around them similar to the one he had used to trap the Tantei. The sea crashed down on the invisible dome around them; both father and daughter could only cling to Hiei's hands for dear life. "There, turn into that cove!" Daren pointed ahead.

The water receded again and the shield was dissipated. From the crest of the waves, Morpheus' image took shape again and roared toward them. "Daren, take the Rod!" Gabriel cried, handing the winged key to the werewolf. "Hiei, when I give you the signal, take him to the Gate; it'll be faster with just two of you." The Koorime nodded as another tsunami bore down on them. Once again, Daren raised a shield, but the sheer force of the water against him was taking a toll on his strength.

As the foam washed away, Morpheus, riding the waves despite the absence of a surfboard, approached the single-surviving member of the group. Daren lay on the rocky ground, crumpled in a heap. The water-mage rode the wave to shore and seized the smaller figure by his shirt. "Did you think you could really stop me, hanyo? Give me the Rod!" he growled.

"Don't got it," a female voice said. The figure of Daren in his grasp rippled, with each wave of light, colors swirled around and shapes changed, until the werewolf was turned into the blonde shaman. She grinned mischievously, shoving her feet at his chest. Hurled backwards, he flipped to maintain his balance. "And one more thing, I'm not a hanyo!"

"You little witch! You don't have a snowflake's chance in the belly of a dragon to defeat me, let alone without your reiki. That's why I had the hanyo mutilated, so you would weaken yourself because of his state."

The sea breeze blasted her hair back from her face as realization filled her features. "_You_ hurt him…?" her nails cut into her palms as she balled her fists. With a single blow to the head, she went down and he passed. He turned into the cove and faced Hiei.

"This is as far as you go," Hiei said warningly, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword. Morpheus moved fast, making a palm thrust to the smaller fighter's stomach. Hiei dodged and slashed at him. A fine tear spread across his robe, and a small cut across his chest followed. Frowning, the water mage waved his hand, unleashing a column of water that knocked Hiei off his feet. A ribbon of water picked the fallen Koorime off the ground and squeezed with rib-cracking force.

Morpheus held the other end of the water-rope; he made the water squeeze even harder. A series of cracks were heard. Hiei, who had been struggling not to scream, opened his mouth to cough up blood. With his free hand, Morpheus sent a smaller column of water into his mouth and down the Koorime's throat into his lungs. Hiei was completely helpless, drowning and bleeding internally. His eyes closed and his neck went slack.


	30. Finding the Gate

Chapter 30

Finding the Gate

"Here, stop!" Daren said; Hiei stopped on a dime, of course, but the poor werewolf was flung forward a few yards by the momentum. He dusted himself off, grumbling and then slapped his forehead, "Damn it all! I had forgotten it was high tide! The mountain the Gate is on is underwater now!"

"You'd better start swimming; the tetsujin won't hold him off for long." Hiei said, drawing his sword.

"Neither will you, but anything is better than nothing." Daren said, casting a spell over himself to allow him to breath underwater. "Good luck, Hiei."

"Are you still here?" he barked and took a stance towards to entrance to the cove to wait. The sorcerer leapt into the water with the Rod and swam downward. He cast another spell to make him very heavy and sank quickly to the bottom. Standing in the billowing sand, he cast a light and walked forward into a cave. The dark tunnel led him forward for several meters before opening into a large chamber; a monstrous cavern that supported the whole island, and in the middle was a small mountain the Gate rested on. He saw the water around him rippling in the heat of an underwater vent. He squinted in confusion; there had been no vents here before, why was there heat now?

He continued, casting yet another spell to protect his body from the heat. He saw an orange glow coming up from the floor. Burning red flashes glowed from the floor. A ravine had opened in the ocean floor, allowing molten rock to cool. Removing the spell that increased his weight, he swam over the ravine and went on to the Gate of Horn. A wrought iron frame, leading to no real physical place, stood from the ground on two mounds of lighter stone than that of the cave. The doors them selves were shimmering designs of silver set into the iron, which were shaped like partially folded wings, raven wings, the wings of the dream god's thousands of little brothers and sisters. The beauty of this monument was immortalized against the wear of time and elements. These doors hung open, missing the key component that made dreams flow naturally. On each door was half of a lock that, when put together with the Rod, held the doors closed.

Daren pulled the doors together again, and as he put them together again, the two halves of the lock came together. He set the Rod vertically into the lock but it didn't fit; the wings on the Rod did not align with the inset of the Gate that was formed around the key. Even though he was standing next to an underwater vent, he felt his blood suddenly go cold.

He had the wrong Rod

Kurama turned off the road and up a mountainside. "A-are we-e the-e-ere ye-et?" Yusuke asked, jerking around in response to the unpaved path.

"If my suspicions are correct, the Gate is at the top of this mountain; luckily its isn't very tall." Kurama answered. When they reached the top, his jaw dropped.

"No way," Yusuke said. The Gate, nearly identical to its counterpart, stood on the other side of a crater, which was hissing with gases and a liquid that made him want to puke at the smell. "This volcano appears active; and those gases could kill you if you inhaled them," Kurama said warily.

"How can we get to it if it's all the way over there? The path doesn't lead to it."

"I don't know, Yusuke. For once, I haven't got a clue."

"So what if there isn't a path?" Kuwabara said, "Lets just push our way through the plants and trees and stuff. Animals can do it, why can't we?"

"Because you could fall off a cliff, dumb ass!" Yusuke said. "We have to figure out a way to get across with out killing ourselves. Kurama, do you have any fire proof plants or something?"

Kurama ran his hand through his hair in a worrisome manner, but he was really checking his inventory. "I do have a small flower that produces enough oxygen at once to sustain a person. I have used it before when toxic gases or fumes became a problem. Although the life of this flower is short lived when it begins to produce oxygen, which is shortly before it naturally seeds and then dies." The seed he pulled from his hair was like a perfect pearl.

"So which one of us gets to cross the lava pit? This ain't Donkey Kong, guys; you only have one life."

"Not me!" Kuwabara said.

"Perhaps it would be best for me to go. I can grow more of these when the flower seeds and dies, but you two cannot." Kurama said.

"Hop to it then," Yusuke said, handing him the Rod, "We'll be here when you come back."

"Wish me luck," the redhead replied, filling the seed with his energy. A silvery green sprout erupted from the shell and flowered; a blossom not unlike a calla lily emerged, set with two other spear-shaped petals on either side of the main blossom like wings. It almost glowed with its own light from the golden filament. "Dude, that's really beautiful…" Kuwabara couldn't keep himself from saying. Kurama took a moment to tie his hair up to keep it from catching fire or getting in the way, and stepped onto the edge of the crater. He pressed the flower to his face. 'Here goes everything.'


	31. The Fury Inside

Chapter 31

The Fury Inside

Kurama hopped into the ring of smoke and hissing fissures. He stepped on partially submerged stones and made his way to the other side of the volcano's crater. Fluffy, black ash fell on him like snowflakes. A stream of sulfur hissed up beside him; shielding himself with his right arm, he hopped to another boulder, farther away from Yusuke's line of sight. "I can't see him any more, Urameshi." Kuwabara said, squinting into the smoky darkness.

"He'll be okay, Kuwabara. He's an expert at sticky situations." Said kitsune was searching for firmer footing when the rock slid a little in the soft ash. He lurched forward; with the Rod in his right hand, he stabbed it into the ground and supported himself over a gurgling vent. His stomach was inches from ground level, saved by the Rod, and his feet propping him up on the rock. Even with the flower over his nose, he could still smell the stink of sulfur. He was stuck in the middle of the crater, and he could hear the vent begin to hiss.

Daren swam back towards the volcanic vent and went in. The light was like a liquid-red aurora all around him. He felt the heat wearing on his spell, but his werewolf's fear of fire drove him on as fast as possible. The tunnel went inland an ever upwards, into the heart of the volcano. His plan was to switch the Rods, if the others had found the Gate yet.

Kurama's mind raced; he had to move, without touching the boiling sulfur all around him. The vent below him hissed violently and rumbled. Squeezing his eyes shut, he waited to be liquidized. A blunt force rammed into his stomach, throwing him up in the air. He couldn't see who grabbed him and flew him to the other side of the crater until his diaphragm went back to normal and he could breath. "Kurama? Lucky I caught you, huh? I slammed my head on your stomach coming out of there!" Daren said.

"What are you doing?" Kurama wheezed.

"We have the wrong Rods; they got switched." He explained, taking the correct key and placing it in the Gate. "Whoever the ass was who designed the Rods should have made the keys look different. Oh! We have to return to the coast! Hiei and Gabi are alone with Morpheus; and she is weakened as it is." Daren flew Kurama back to the other side of the crater; they passed back down the mountain and followed the coastline to find the others.

Morpheus watched in vicious pleasure as the life passed from Hiei's eyes. He felt a tingle in the center of his back, like a shiver passing through him, and a vice of some kind squeezed his fragile heart. "AAAAAAAAAAHH!" he screamed, dropping the water around Hiei and clutching his chest. Gabi ran out from behind him to kneel by Hiei. CPR would make his ribs hurt like hell, but so would this: she set down her staff and reached into his chest; her hands phased through him and scooped the water out of his lungs. His eyes snapped back into focus and he coughed violently. He bent over, hugging his ribs in pain. "Are you okay?" the blonde asked.

"I'll live, I think." He rasped.

Morpheus straightened himself, breathing hard because the tissue around his heart was bruised. "So, you still have some fight in you, and at least enough Reiki left to perform the simple shifting of your matter. If I can't drain your energy completely, I'll just wear your body out."

"I don't need reiki to kick the shit out of you!" she barked back.

"Good, because you're nearly out."

"So are you; you aren't used to working without your toys, are you? Or else you've had your little friends to do everything for you!" Morpheus kept his cool and formed loose figures from water that flew to surround her. Hiei, who was on his knees behind her, was kicked violently out of the way. "Hiei!" she cried, watching him cough up more blood in agony. One of the watery figures yanked on her hair. She splattered him, literally, with a punch. Another made a jab at her; she swatted his hand away, making his arm splash on the ground, and drove her fist into his chest. At that second, he turned to ice, and she drew back her hand in pain. "Damn it, that's not fair!" she shook her hand to dull the pain in her knuckles. The remaining shapes around her slapped and splashed her weakly, only fueling her anger. "GET. OFF!" she screamed and forced them back with a final burst of her reiki. "Who's next!" she snarled. She felt a tug in her head that made her jerk forward.

Morpheus was holding a small thread of energy, tugging with both hands. He jerked again, throwing her on her face. The thread was connected to a part of her on the inside. A mass of light jumped out of her head and landed on the ground. Forming more threads attached to the mass, Morpheus wove them together and shaped the energy. A figure took shape and stood up as the finer details formed. A head of blonde curls formed followed by a tunic, identical to Gabi's except in black, with blood red leggings, and matching eyes.

"What the hell is that!"

"Every thing inside you," the artificial woman said with a wry smile, "I am your hate, your anger, and your viciousness personified." She sprinted forward and struck Gabi in the stomach. Gabi fell back; her fury jumped on her, only to be kicked with both feet in her chest. Leaning on her staff, Gabi struggled to her feet. Fury picked herself up and charged. Gabi used her staff against her, but almost every blow was deflected or caught. Fury grabbed her staff with both hands; they pushed and pulled, leaning inches from each other.

"Are you tired yet? Has healing your daddy made little Gabi sleepy?" Fury purred.

"Shut up!"

Fury ignored her and pushed her back; Gabi's heels rooted little grooves in the ground. "Are you scared your precious papa won't make it back in time to rescue you? I know where he is, and I could tell Morpheus."

"Say one more word and I'll shove this staff up your ass!" Gabi stopped Fury's advance and pushed her back.

"You're weak, you know that? Just an insignificant little girl."

"She's a grown woman," a raspy voice said. Hiei supported himself on his hands, curled over to keep the strain off his ribs, "And even a ningen like her can beat your harpy ass!" Gabi rammed her knee into Fury's stomach, causing her to fall backwards. She glanced over to the wounded youkai, he wore his usual scowl; nodding, she braced herself for an attack from Fury.

Fury did an ax kick and slammed her heel down, snapping Gabriel's crook in half. She stared at the cedar flinders in shock. "You… little…shit! I got that from an old friend!"

"Oops," Fury giggled. Her arms twitched; the doppelganger's clothes seemed a little tighter than before. She pulled her arm back to punch and Gabi noticed; her muscles had grown bigger than before! Gabi dodged the blow and jumped to the side, aiming a roundhouse kick at her. Fury grabbed her leg and swung her around, throwing her on the ground. Gabi drew her reiguns and emptied a clip. Fury, being an almost perfect replica of Gabi, made the reitamas phased through like moths flying through fog.

Gabi stood up and took a protective stance; Fury rained down on her with her fists and feet. "You worthless little Wicca! What made you think you ever had a chance against me?" she taunted. Gabi growled back from behind her arms, "I'm no witch, I'm a shaman!"

"You're pathetic!" Fury broke through her defense and grabbed her by the throat. "And once I get rid of you, I'll have Kurama all to myself."

Inside Gabriel, a capillary burst; she drove her foot into Fury's stomach so hard, several ribs cracked. As the black-clad blonde landed yards away, an exhausted shaman stumbled to her feet. She couldn't keep it up. Fury stood up, her ribs realigning themselves and her strength growing again. "You can't kill me, I am Fury; I am Vicious!"

Gabriel breathed hard, staring hard at her mirror image. Her leaden limbs fell and she dropped to her knees, "You're right," she sighed, closing her eyes.

Fury raised her eyebrows in confusion. Gabriel undid her holster belt and threw it aside, neatly brushing her hair back into place with her headband. "You are the anger inside me, as long as I feel mad I give you strength. I've always had a bad temper, that's why I can't beat you," she said, returning Fury's glare with a soft gaze, "and if I'm not angry, you're not even there."

"Humph, too bad for you, I'm still standing." Fury said.

"No, you aren't."

"Shut up! You weak little wench, I'll kill you!" she charged and bore down on her with an eagle-strike. Before Fury even got close to Gabriel, she disappeared into nothing.


	32. For the Love of His Daughter

Hey, guys. I'm really sorry about not updating anything for so long; the truth is, my laptop was ruined. A full cup of water was spilt on it (Thankfully it was turned off) but it wouldn't turn on again. My dad spent about three days straight rescuing my hard drive and my files before sending it back to the makers. If he didn't do that for me, I would have lost everything for the second time. It was a couple weeks before he implanted my stuff onto the family computer, and then life got crazy with school, and I've been editing spellings, this that and the other, etc. the point is, I'm sorry and I hope you can forgive me. This series is quickly winding down and then next (And final) one will start soon, featuring Gabi's youkai form! XD If you really want to flame me, I guess I deserve it.

Chapter 32

For the Love of His Daughter

Weakly, Gabrielle fell over on the ground. Morpheus was also exhausted; he knelt, breathing hard. Even being near his natural element was not enough to strengthen him. The natural energy of the world was beyond his grasp as long as the Rods causing it were not his. His abilities had atrophied while he had his followers to do everything for him. He needed the Rods.

Hiei struggled to his feet, bleeding from his mouth. "Hiei… stay down…" Gabrielle said.

"And let that freak finish us off? I don't think so." He growled back.

"I can't heal you! You have to rest!!"

"If we both stay here, I'll die anyway." He argued, yanking her up.

"You can't run in your condition, Hiei-"

"Quiet, onna, I know what I'm doing." He picked her up like a half-empty sack of flour over his shoulder. He leapt up the rocky walls of the cove, leaving their foe behind. Hiei made it as far as the city, crossing the two miles in less than thirty seconds. His strength gave out in the middle of the road and he fell; Gabrielle fell a short distance away from him. Blood gushed from his mouth and he collapsed.

Gabrielle struggled to muster any strength she had left. She sighed in defeat and lay still. A dull hum filled her ears and grew louder; like an engine. Two motorcycles blazed up beside her and stopped. "Child, wake up!" her father's voice cried, slapping her cheek with his hand. She opened her eyes weakly, "No ... strength." she mumbled. Kurama and Yusuke did what they could to help Hiei; Kurama took off his long sash and wrapped it tightly around his ribs. The little Koorime coughed up more blood, but he could breath easier.

Daren's worried eyes softened, "Its all right, pup, you did fine."

"No!" She breathed hastily, "Still need to fight! Still... alive!"

"He's still alive?" Yusuke cried. The ground under him began to shake, the glass from all the buildings around them shattered. "Earthquake?!"

"No, worse," Kurama replied. "Look!" off in the distance, the mountain peak glowed red and shot sparks into the air. Soft, snowy blackness rained down on them. "Ash! We have to leave or the air will kill us!" Weather sirens blared in the streets as the island shook violently. The ground beneath them cracked and split, ripping a hole into the cavern beneath the island. The stretch of concrete tilted and fell with them on it; they landed a hundred meters down, half cushioned in hot water, which began to recede at an alarming rate. "He's pulling all of the water out from under the island! It's going to cave into the volcano's roots!" Daren cried in disbelief.

Kuwabara propped Gabrielle up while Yusuke gave her the last of her thermos of coffee. She stood, facing the coast, watching for her foe. Her reiki was still gone, but she could stand. "We have to get that Rod back in the Gate."

"We have to get rid of him first, Gabi." Daren said, pointing to the figure rising up from the sea. Her mind raced, trying to form a plan. Morpheus had caught his second wind, and was going to drown them all, or force them into the boiling fissure below. "The Calvary has come!" a high voice shouted. Botan swooped out of the sky into the blazing heat. "I came to help!" she said, hovering next to the group on her oar. "Koenma forbade me from coming, but I put my foot down!" she giggled. Gabrielle's mind hatched a plan.

"Daren, Give me the Rod!" she said.

"What? Absolutely not!"

"I have a plan! Give it to me!" she snatched it away from her foster-father. "Botan, fly me to the Gate!" the blonde hopped on her oar, standing up on the paddle. The ferry girl zoomed up the cliff face; Gabrielle opened her mind to the power source in her hands, and for the first time in her life, she felt frail.

This was part of the universe that has always been and would endure forever until the unmaking of the world. She felt the overwhelming, unlimited reign of the strength of a god and she hated it! She had to put it back. Mortals were never meant to command the composition of the universe. The Rod of Ivory cast its spell, turning night to day. The tide shifted and receded and Morpheus fell from his perch. "Grab him!" she shouted down to the others. Botan let her down in front of the Gate, but a jet of gas blew her away. The ferry girl was forced back and spiraled downwards.

Gabrielle pulled the doors to the Gate shut and set the key into the lock. No longer in her control, the tide rolled back and shook the island's roots. Morpheus was held in Daren's spell, defeated. The earth shook again and the fissure that Daren had found the first time ripped open even further. The perch the Gate stood on cracked and crumbled; it fell into the liquid rock below. The Gate itself was not destroyed, it could never be, but it was no longer reachable by human hands; it and its mate, the Gate of Horn was both buried in liquid stone.

The ground caved in and exploded under Gabrielle's feet; she was bombarded with loose stones and knocked out. Lava poured down the mountain, burning up the island from beneath and above. She fell backward, tumbling a ways down the mountain before stopping on a perch-like level. The jut of rock was for or five meters long and reached up hill, keeping any lava from immersing it. Her right arm hung off the edge lifelessly. She sighed, causing a small cloud of dust to swirl around. With a groan, she cracked her eyes open. A burning scene of red and orange surrounded her, giving off immense amounts of heat. Her hair, soaking as it was, fluttered against the rising heat waves. Her vision began to blur as a flying shadow leapt up to her. She closed her eyes.

A pair of arms lifted her up, making her feel weightless…

Like she was flying…

Soft cotton…

Gentle hands…

Botan, who was stronger then she looked, managed to hold Gabrielle on her oar and steer back down the mountain at the same time. Daren took her from Botan and laid her on the ground, seemingly unaware of the fissure that ripped open the street two blocks away. Ashes and sparks rained down on them, sulfur and other poisonous gases were filling the air. "Koenma, GET US OUT OF HERE!!" Yusuke roared into is communicator. The shimmering edges of a circle began to appear in the air beside them.

Daren was as calm as thunder before it strikes; as the eye of a hurricane; as a dying tiger before his final battle with all the fierceness burning in his heart. "No if we all leave, he'll get away." He muttered.

Gabrielle suddenly realized what he wanted to do. "Dare-" he silenced her with one finger to her mouth.

"My child, you know what I am about to do. I have to give you something, the most important thing I possess; this key." He pulled a silver object from his pocket on a chain and looped it around her neck. "With these final words, I must leave you all."

"Daren-!" she cried.

"Hey," Yusuke interjected, "What do you mean leave us?!"

The were-wolf hanyo kissed the girl's forehead, "I love you, my daughter. I never regretted dedicating my self to you. Goodbye." He waved his hand for his final spell and the troop flew backwards towards the opening portal. "Daaaaaareeeeeeen!" she cried, reaching out to him. The portal opened and they fell through. The circle closed and a blast of heat was cut off. The five were on the floor of Koenma's office, surrounded by papers that were sullied by the ash that covered the five. The all-seeing view screen showed the island breaking up, lava spewing up and out in all directions. The screen showed a close-up of the sorcerer and the dream-weaver. Daren held the deceiver in a spell, fighting him to the last.

Morpheus struggled against the magic that held him, but the were-wolf's spell was fueled by emotions, not reiki, and held firm. "Say goodbye," Daren laughed; he turned and smiled softly, wanting his daughter's last vision of him to be good. Looking directly into the view screen, he knew it was there, and the screen cutout, showing a static-filled view of the entire island crumbling, melting, tumbling into the sea. Hoards of ships swarmed like ants to get away from the island. The sun had crept over the horizon, bathing the fiery destruction on a glorious golden light, like the Fire that created all fires. The glittering ocean around it was too much to look at and they turned their eyes away, blinking away lingering spots.

Gabrielle, too weak to move much more, let out a soft, "No!". She had moved towards the screen, but fell weakly to her knees. Yusuke held her still, tears streaking his face, "It's too late, Gabi! He gave his life for all of us! We can't go back, he's gone."

"No, Yusuke, he can't be gone," Kurama, said, "He gave only his body; if his spirit were dead; the portal would not have closed to protect us."

Crushed, the blonde cried herself out in the spirit detective's familiar hug.


	33. Breaking apart

Chapter 33

Breaking Apart

Kurama woke up in the hospital wing of the Reikai palace, swathed in bandages, like he had earned badges for his deeds. He looked around to find the others; they too were in hospital beds and wrapped up like mummies. He felt like crap; restless from the effects of super-natural caffeine, aching from his injuries, and everything felt like a third-degree burn; probably from wandering around the erupting volcano. At least he wasn't covered in ash and mud and smelling like rotting seaweed anymore…

Cripes, even is hair hurt; it felt like wire and straw as he scratched an itch, and immediately wished he hadn't. For some mocking purpose, there was a mirror on the wall right in front of him, to balance out the room because the only window was on the far side of the wall. "You've seen better decades, old friend." Yoko's voice spoke from his mouth. "All too true." He sighed and gingerly lay back down. He'd probably have to restock all the seeds he carried in his hair that were scorched. Judging from the light in the window, it was either just before noon, or just after, he couldn't tell which way east was. Crap, if this was noon of the same day, no wonder he was so damn tired. "It's actually been a whole day since you came back."

Kurama jumped uncharacteristically. Koenma bobbed in the air beside him. "I remember my first cup of Joe," the princeling sighed, shaking his head. "The most horrible caffeine rush I ever had; made me want to vomit. But I cleared my entire desk! All the paper work was gone."

Kurama was too distracted by the thought of having only been sleeping for 24 hours. "How is Gabi?" he asked, trying to change the subject away from the damn coffee. Koenma looked rather somber, "Not too well, I'm afraid." he replied.

"What?" he furrowed his brow and his eyes grew wider in concern.

"Her vitals are fine, if anything, she is healing faster than any of you. The problem is, her spirit is still weak. Her heart and soul are intertwined closely together. Her sadness may affect her body, being a handler of spirits and psychic properties. I'm hoping her heart won't give up the will to live."

"I can't say I blame her." Yusuke said, waking up in the bed next to Kurama and listening in. "He was one of few things that were stable in her life. She could wake up in a tree house in the Amazon, or underground in an Indian cave, and he was a constant presence. She could remember where she was with him, and have a personal reminder that she wasn't wandering across the world alone, she was just exploring with a companion."

The day dragged on, and they went back to sleep. Gabrielle sat up from her sleep at sunset, shaded in a golden-red light from the window in front of her. She sighed sadly, pulling off the cumbersome bandage from around her head. Her head was swimming, but she didn't care. Her life had a huge chunk taken out of it. She was forced to move on.

She wandered out of the room, limping with each step, and her heart heavier than her exhausted limbs. Gabrielle all too soon welcomed darkness as she entered her home and fell on his bed. His cool silk and satin sheets were much more comfortable to her blistered skin.

Yusuke walked up to his companions, still swathed like a mummy across his torso, but he could move about. He looked up at them sadly, "I followed her home, and she was asleep in the dark, just listening to Metallica over and over," he said, his breathing was quick, and uneven. They stood outside Kurama's house, having been released from Reikai hospital hours before.

"I think somebody should talk to her," Kuwabara said.

"It doesn't matter; I just got back from checking on her for the second time. She's leaving." Yusuke responded.

"What?" Kurama breathed in disbelief, "What do you mean 'leaving'?"

"There are boxes all over the place as I looked in her window; there were ogres from Koenma helping her. She's moving; I saw a letter on the table; it was Daren's will. She's leaving to sort out his affairs and assets."

"Why is that so shocking?" Hiei asked blankly.

"She inherited a castle in _Makai_ that belonged to a clan of _werewolves_."

"Shit! That dude was a werewolf?!" Kuwabara cried. Kurama's heart stopped, he had a heavy, sick feeling. Without another word, he ran, ignoring his injuries and went to Gabrielle's apartment. He burst in the door out of breath, "Gabi-!" he gasped in horror. The walls were bare, the floor was empty; she was gone and he was too late. He didn't see her again for two years.

Koenma sat at his desk, milling through a lifetime of paper work that had to be annulled because the world _didn't _end. He sighed tiredly and dragged his sleeve across his eyes. He was exhausted, for a Reikai prince. Botan walked in with her oar over her shoulder, she too was frazzled. "I've ferried them both, Koenma sir, Morpheus and Daren," she said. "They're at rest."

"Very good, Botan," the prince sighed.

"She has a message for you, you know."

"Gabi? What on earth for?" he turned to his view screen. The screen blinked and the blonde's face showed up. Her face had change since she began working for him. Her eyes were deeper, wiser, and her hair had grown quickly over the short time she was in Japan, from just under her chin to just under her shoulders.

"Hey, Koenma, it's me. I have to quit your team for a while," Gabriel began her recorded message, "I have yet to get over my grieving for him, but he was a strong man and I feel I should live up to the image he left me; I have to wake up every morning because the sun will still rise. As you well know, when Daren passed, and he left everything to me; I plan on transferring his entire estate to Reikai instead of Makai. I don't belong to Ningenkai anymore; I don't know how to change back to how I was, but I have time now to try." She pointed to her ears, which had grown very pointy in her attempt to regain her rightful form. "My life will be divided into finishing my studies and taking care of Daren's affairs. If you want to tell the others what I am, I don't mind. And if you really need me again, you'll know where to find me… but please, don't tell the boys where. I have to figure out who I am as a person and try to understand my memories. Goodbye for now."

Botan was in tears; Koenma thoughtfully chewed on his binky, and sighed. "There is truly a great young woman and perhaps … Botan, why don't you take the rest of the day off?"

The ferry girl nodded and took off into the Reikai sky, swooping low to weave through a forest. Birds fluttered beside her in their impeccable white plumage. A pair of doves; birds so sensitive they could not live without their mates. They were birds of peace, love and purity. Their polar opposites the ravens, though lowly scavenger birds and omens of doom, were as passionate mate sand parents. Two different birds matched in love, who did they remind her of? The doves and the ravens…

AN: Hey guys, it's that time again, when I receive death threats for cliffhanger endings. This part of the story is through, the Doves and the Ravens. But, it won't take me so long to update the next one. The only thing holding me back is the title. I turn to the readers to say you guys are awesome and deserve recognition for giving me the motivation and inspiration for these two lovers. Even just a single review makes my day, and a single review gave me the strength to finally end this story and begin another.

I won't be long…


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